September 20, 2016

By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Tuesday retained its benchmark interest rate at 14 percent and cash reserve ratio (CRR) AT 22.5 percent.

This is coming on the heels of the 252nd meeting of the MPC which is the fifth this year, Cordros update reported that still faced with the challenges of a severely weakened macroeconomic landscape, accentuated by stagflation dilemma, declining economic and business activities, and overall recessionary trend – voted to maintain status quo by retaining the benchmark interest rate and CRR at 14 percent and 22.5 percent respectively.

Also, the MPC kept the asymmetric corridor around the MPR was retained at +200/-500bps and the  liquidity ratio at 30 percent apiece.

The Committee’s decision came in line with consensus, as shown by a Bloomberg-compiled median estimate of 14.0% for the MPR, the Cordros update affirmed.