The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again increased the monetary policy rate (MPR) by 0.50 per cent to 18.50 per cent.
This was increase interest rate was announced by the Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele on Wednesday while addressing newsmen in Abuja.
He said the decision by members of the team to raise the benchmark interest rate is to curb inflation.
The CBN governor said the committee considered a perennial scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit known as petrol, the 2023 general elections, continuous rise in energy prices, exchange rate pressure as well as continuous rise in insecurity.
Emefiele said, “MPC was of the view that although the inflation rate moderated marginally in December, the economy remained confronted with the risk of high inflation with adverse consequences on the general standards of living.
“Committee, therefore, decided to sustain the current stance of policy at this point in time to further rein in inflation aggressively.
“MPC voted to raise the MPR to 17.5%, retain the asymmetric at +100/-700 basis points around the corridor.”
