CBN Increases Interest Rate To 16.5%

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday, voted to increase the benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 16.5 percent, the highest since 2001.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said this while reading the communique of the last MPC meeting of the year on Tuesday, November 22, 2022.

The MPC added that the tightening would stop a higher rate of inflation and restore investors’ confidence.

According to a report, the highlights of the MPC meeting included: increase MPR by 100 basis points to 16.5 percent; the asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR was retained; the CRR was retained at 32.5 percent; while the Liquidity Ratio was also kept at 30 per cent.

The apex bank had raised the MPR from 11.5 percent earlier to 15.5 percent across three consecutive rate hikes.