The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again hiked the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which measures interest rates by 50 basis points, from 26.25% to 26.75% amid soaring inflation and skyrocketing food prices.
The CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, announced this after the apex bank’s 296th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, inflation moved to 34.19 per cent in June. The headline inflation increased by 0.24 per cent relative to the May 2024 headline inflation rate which was 33.95 per cent.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.40 per cent points higher than that of June 2023 (22.79 per cent).
Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 34.19 percent last week amid the surge in food prices. The monetary policy committee retained other parameters. The MPR is the baseline interest rate in an economy, every other interest rate used within the economy is built on it.
At the press briefing, Cardoso said the committee members voted to hike the rate by 50 basis points to 27.75 percent, adjust the asymmetric corridor to +500 and -100 basis points around the MPR, retain the cash reserve ratio (CRR) at 45 percent, and liquidity ratio at 30 percent.
