The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Tuesday, raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which measures interest rates by 50 basis points, from 26.25% to 26.75% amid soaring inflation and skyrocketing food prices.
The Governor of the apex bank, Olayemi Cardoso, announced this after the apex bank’s 296th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.
The MPC had maintained a hawkish stance to tame inflation since it resumed meeting this year and thus far, it has hiked rate by more than 500 points.
The rate was raised to 26.25 per cent in May. However, with inflation moving to 34.19 per cent in June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, the headline inflation increased by 0.24 per cent relative to the May 2024 headline inflation rate which was 33.95 per cent.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.40 per cent points higher than that of June 2023 (22.79 per cent).
Also, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.31 per cent, which was 0.17 per cent higher than the rate recorded in May 2024 (2.14 per cent), meaning that the rate of increase in the average price level was higher in June than in May.
Repeatedly, the CBN governor has maintained that the MPC members were committed to price stability and were willing to keep tightening until inflation is tamed.
Multiple reports from investment houses had projected that the MPR would be hiked,
Cowry Asset Management, in its weekly report, projected a 25bps to 50bps hike in interest rates, while the Meristem report anticipates “a 100 basis point increase in the monetary policy rate to 27.25 per cent while likely keeping other parameters unchanged. Overall, we anticipate that the committee will prioritize inflation control and capital inflow sustainability, crucial for maintaining a stable exchange rate system, and accordingly, implement a rate hike to achieve these objectives.”
