The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, has voted to increase the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to eighteen percent. This was disclosed by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday while reading the communiqué of the second MPC meeting.
He said the committee also pegged the liquidity ratio at thirty percent. The tightening of the rate according to the apex bank governor is expected to curtail inflation currently put at twenty-one percent.
On naira redesign, Emefiele explained that the bank aligns itself with the Supreme Court’s judgement as the redesigned naira currency in circulation is about one trillion naira. Emefiele said that the bank will continue to pump more currency into the system but with caution.