Cardoso Explains Why CBN Leadership Has Not Held MPC Meeting

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings of the nation’s apex bank have been largely unsuccessful, according to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Olayemi Cardoso.

He made this statement while delivering his keynote address at the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria’s Annual Dinner, which was held in Lagos on Friday.

According to Cardoso, the MPC ought to convene four times a year, as it has done so already this year, in accordance with constitutional rules.

Cardoso said, “This is what I, together with my team at the Central Bank, have been focused on doing in the past two months. We have critically reviewed the effectiveness of the Central Bank’s monetary policy tools and have spent time fixing the transmission mechanism to ensure the decisions of MPC meetings actually result in desired objectives.

“For quite some time, there has been a dislocation of our monetary transmission mechanisms, rendering the MPC meetings largely ineffective.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007 requires that the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank be held at least four times a year, and the Bank has satisfied this requirement for 2023. Our focus has been on ensuring these meetings are useful and effective.”

Naija News reports that the MPC meeting that was supposed to be held this month was postponed on Monday. Financial analysts claim that the decision has made investors’ worries and uncertainty even more acute.

Despite the huge devaluation of the naira versus the dollar and the resulting inflationary pressure, the apex bank was unable to call the monetary policy committee meeting for over four months.

The MPC meeting has not been held since September when Cardoso succeeded his predecessor, Godwin Emefiele.

However, experts suggest that the latest postponement will keep investors and analysts waiting a bit longer for Cardoso’s approach to surging inflation, which hit 27.33 per cent in October 2023.