MPC retains interest rate at 14%

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)  has again retained interest rates at record high of 14 per cent.

The committee made this known at the end of its meeting held on Tuesday in Abuja.

The meeting, said to have been tension-soaked took a lot of issues up, including reassuring investors that Nigeria is out to encourage them to return to the country.

Announcing some of its resolutions, in a communiqué read by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, at the end of the meeting, the committee said it had to bend backwards to accommodate various views by others, despite them not being the best option in the situation that Nigeria presently finds itself.

Emefiele said: “The Committee in consideration of the headwinds in the domestic economies and uncertainties in the global environment, decided by a unanimous vote to retain the MPR at 14 per cent alongside all other policy parameters.

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“The MPC welcomed the modest increase in oil prices following the last OPEC decision to cut output and noted the increase in the policy rate of the United States in December 2016 and the potential implication

“With output growth improving sluggishly, the outlook for 2017 remains unchanged, owing to persisting uncertainties on commodity prices and volatility in financial market as well as slowing demand in the advanced economies and emerging market”, he stated.

The liquidity ratio and Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) were also unchanged. While the liquidity ratio remains 30 per cent, CRR is 22.50 per cent.

The MPC also retained the asymmetric corridor at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR.

Only one member was absent at the meeting, unlike the November 2017, which witnessed three absentees at last meeting.

 

 

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