CBN Cuts Interest Rate To 23%

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reduced the country’s benchmark interest rate from 26.5 per cent to 23 per cent.

Naija News reports that the decision was announced by the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, on Tuesday after the committee concluded its 307th meeting in Abuja.

The latest reduction represents a 3.5 percentage-point cut in the Monetary Policy Rate, which is the key rate used by the apex bank to guide borrowing costs and other interest rates across the economy.

The committee had also reduced the rate by 50 basis points in February 2026.

Recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the country’s headline inflation rate fell slightly to 15.39 per cent in August 2026, compared with 15.43 per cent in July.

The August figure marked another monthly decline in inflation after the rate had recorded increases for three consecutive months.

In other news, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and other defaulting agencies to appear before it over their failure to honour previous invitations on audit queries.

The directive followed the absence of the agencies at the committee’s special legislative oversight and public hearing on the NEITI oil and gas industry audit reports for 2021, 2022 and 2023, forcing proceedings to stall on Monday.

The hearing was convened to examine NEITI’s audit reports on revenues, remittances, payments and financial obligations in the oil and gas sector, while also assessing compliance with relevant financial and extractive industry laws.