The Central Bank of Nigeria has maintained the country’s benchmark interest rate at 26.5 per cent, opting to keep monetary policy unchanged after the latest meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee.
The decision was announced on Tuesday by the Governor of the CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, at the end of the MPC’s 306th meeting held in Abuja.
Cardoso said, “The Committee decided as follows: retain the monetary policy rate at 26.5 per cent.”
The latest decision means the apex bank has again left the key lending rate unchanged after previously pausing adjustments following a 50-basis-point reduction in February this year.
The move comes even as Nigeria’s inflation rate showed a slight improvement.
Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed headline inflation slowed marginally to 15.91 per cent in June from 15.93 per cent in May, marking the first monthly decline after inflation rose consistently between February and May.
Further details are expected.
