The CBN’s acting Governor, Folashodun Shonubi, announced this on Tuesday after the bank’s MPC meeting in Abuja.
This is the first decision of the monetary committee since President Bola Tinubu’s assumption of office on May 29, 2023 and the first since the suspension of Mr. Godwin Emefiele as the CBN Governor on June 9, 2023.
Nigeria’s headline inflation rose last week to 22.79 per cent in June from the 22.41 per cent recorded in May 2023 amid soaring food prices and rising cost of transportation occasioned by the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit known as petrol.
This was according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS). The CPI measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services. Shonubi, who addressed pressmen at the CBN headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, said “hiking the interest rate has made a lot of difference in moderating the rate of inflation”.
The CBN MPC voted to hike MPR by 25 basis points to 18.75% from 18.5%. The committee narrowed asymmetric corridor to +100/-300 from +100/-700 and retained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5%.
Shonubi also said the volatility around foreign exchange rates would soon normalise.