The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced a significant increase in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 200 basis points, raising it from 22.75 percent to 24.75 percent.
This was announced by the Governor of the CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, who doubles as the Chairman of the MPC at the end of the 294th meeting held in Abuja.
In addition to the adjustment in the MPR, the committee decided to maintain the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 45 percent for Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and 14 percent for Merchant Banks. The Liquidity Ratio (LR) was also left unchanged at 30 percent. Furthermore, the Asymmetric Corridor has been reversed to +100/-300 basis points around the MPR.
This latest policy move follows the outcomes of the first MPC meeting for the year, which concluded with votes to increase the benchmark MPR by 400 basis points to 22.75 percent, recalibrate the asymmetric corridor around the MPR to +100/-700 basis points from +100/-300 basis points, and raise the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 12.5 percentage points to 45.0 percent.
Despite the hike in late February, its impact was not immediately reflected in the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) update, published in March, which tracks price changes in the preceding month.
