CBN Raises Interest Rate To 18% Amidst Surging Inflation

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) voted for a rise in the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 18% on Tuesday.

Naija News reports that the governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed the new development while reading the communiqué of the second MPC meeting of the year.

According to him, the committee voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -500 basis points around the MPR.

Emefiele, while speaking to pressmen after the two-day MPC meeting explained that the slight hike is to prevent the effect of inflation and other economic issues.

The CBN boss said, “The MPC committee voted to raise the MPR by 50 basis points to 18%, retain asymmetric corridor at +100 and -500 basis points around the MPR.”

However, it was gathered that speculation before the end of the meeting was that the CBN and the MPC might not increase lending rates due to its following effects.

However, since April 2022, when it was 11.50 %, it has continued to increase and now it’s at 18%.

This simply implies that as the lending rates just like the inflation rates go up, prices of goods and services are expected to move upwards too for the citizens.