By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigeria’s Central Bank Tuesday retained its Interest Rate at 12 percent (12%) as part of the decisions taken at its Communiqué No. 91 of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Meeting of Monday and Tuesday September 23 and 24, 2013.

At the MPC meeting, it took 11:1 vote to maintain the current monetary policy stance at its meeting on Tuesday.

The CBN retained MPR 12% with interest rate corridor of +/- 200 basis points.

Also, the CBN agreed to retain the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) on private sector deposit at 12%, CRR on public sector deposit at 50% and the Minimum Liquidity Ratio at 30% of total assets.

The 12 Member in attendance on the External Sector Developments noted the decline in external reserves to US$45.27 billion as at September 19, 2013. External reserves, however, still increased by US$4.08 billion or 9.91%, year-on-year, compared with US$41.19 billion at end-September 2012.

Also, the naira exchange rate remained stable at the wDAS segment of the foreign exchange market. The exchange rate at the wDAS-SPT during the review period opened and closed at N157.32/US$ (including 1% commission). The average wDAS exchange rate during the period was N157.31/US$.

The Committee noted that the stability of the exchange rate reflected the commitment of the Bank to supporting the currency at a time of massive depreciation in the currencies of emerging and frontier countries.

According to the MPC, this commitment was underscored by the policy of intervention to improve supply conditions, and the very tight monetary conditions maintained since the last MPC meeting.