The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has retained the country’s Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 27.50 per cent citing improvement in economic indices......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
The apex bank’s governor, Olayemi Cardoso announced the decision on Thursday at the 299th Monetary Policy Committee Meeting (MPC).
The decision comes after the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) rebased the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
After rebasing, the general price level of goods and services, dropped from 34.80 per cent in December 2024 using the previous methodology to 24.48 per cent in January 2025 with the rebased methodology.
The food inflation rate dropped from 39.84 per cent measured in December using the old methodology to 26.08 per cent in January after rebasing.
The CBN has since under its former Governor, Godwin Emefiele battled to moderate inflation to a single digit using an unorthodox monetary approach.
Cardoso’s team has adopted an orthodox approach to ensure price stability.
In the last MPR of 2024 held in November, the MPC voted to raise the MPR by 25 basis points to 27.50 per cent from 27.25 per cent on account of inflation.
Cardoso said the committee voted unanimously to retain MPR at 27.50 per cent in the first MPC of 2025 and retain all parameters.
The MPC retained “the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +500/-100 basis points.
“Retain the Cash Reserve Ratio of Deposit Money Banks at 50.00 per cent and Merchant Banks at 16 per cent. Retain the Liquidity Ratio at 30.00 per cent.”
Experts had criticised the decision to rebase the CPI saying it does not reflect a drop in prices of goods and services.
” It’s important to remember that while the prices of the goods in the CPI basket have indeed increased, the 10 per cent reduction in the reported inflation rate is only due to the change in the measurement timeframe, not an actual price decrease.
“Remember that a change in the base year does not automatically cause the final figure to rise or fall,” a financial expert Kalu Aja said.
Aja said it was right for the CBN not to lower its monetary policy rate, which it uses to combat inflation over the inflation report.
He said the CBN was not expected to cut MPC “Simply because the inflation rate has ‘fallen’? If the CBN were to reduce rates prematurely, it might lead to excessive monetary expansion.
“CBN should focus on boosting growth through credit to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as a tight and restrictive monetary policy harms SMEs, which are the primary job creators.
“Psychologically, a lower inflation number seems like a win, but the hope is that it’s not a pyrrhic victory showcasing form over substance.”