Nigeria sets policy direction for 2019 as monetary authority holds interest rate at 14%

January 22, 2019 1:58 PM

Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, says all the Committee members voted to retain interest rate at 14%.

Governor Godwin Emefiele announces that Nigeria's central bank is keeping its benchmark interest rate on hold at 13 percent in Abuja, Nigeria, July 24, 2015. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

The CBN monetary policy committee (MPC) on Tuesday, retained key lending rate at record-high 14% in more than two years.

This is the outcome of the first monetary policy meeting of the Nigerian central bank and it also the set policy direction for the country ahead of the 2019 elections.

Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, while reading communique at the end of the two-day, said all the Committee members voted to retain interest rate at 14%.

He said the asymmetric corridor remained unchanged at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR, while the CRR is retained at 22.5%, with the liquidity ratio at 30%.

“Loosening option was, was very impossible as tightening will make room for more recovery gains,” Emefiele noted.

CBN urged the federal government to address infrastructure deficit in Nigeria, reduce unemployment and increase aggregate demand.