The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held its 277th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, the first in 2021, where members voted unanimously to retain the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.5 per cent. Mr Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the CBN disclosed this while reading the communiqué from the meeting.
Emefiele said the MPC also agreed to retain Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 27.50 per cent, Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent and the Asymmetric Window at plus 100 and minus 700 basis points around the MPR. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that all prevailing rates were equally agreed on during the last MPC meeting on Nov. 24, 2020.
The CBN governor said the committee was confronted with policy choices, either to aggressively reverse inflationary pressure in the country or support measures aimed at enhancing growth and reversing the current economic recession.
Emefiele added that the committee encouraged the Federal Government not to consider another wholesale lockdown of the economy so as not to reverse the gains of the various economic stimulus packages provided in 2020.
