CBN Increases Interest Rate To 22.75% From 18.75%

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has increased the Monetary Policy Rate(MPR) by four hundred basis points to 22.75 percent from its previous rate of 18.75 percent.

Governor of the CBN Yemi Cardoso disclosed this following the first MPC meeting for the year held in Abuja on Tuesday.

The MPR has been 18.75 percent since the last MPC meeting between 24th and 25th July 2023.

With inflation at 29.90 percent, he said the new MPR is part of moves to tackle the country’s inflation.

Cardoso who chairs the MPC also said the Cash Reserve Ratio(CRR) has been raised to forty-five percent while the liquidity ratio was left unchanged at thirty percent.

The CBN chief also announced that over $26 billion has passed through the crypto app Binance Nigeria in the last four years.

“In the case of Binance, in the last year, 26 billion dollars have passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” he told reporters in his first MPC meeting since assuming office as the CBN governor.