CBN reduces interest rate to 26.5%

By Samuel Solomon

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has officially reduced its benchmark interest rate, the Monetary Policy Rate, by 50 basis points, dropping it from 27 per cent to 26.5 per cent.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, announced the reduction during a press briefing on Tuesday, following the conclusion of the 304th Monetary Policy Committee meeting held in Abuja.

This latest policy decision comes after a pause in rate adjustments during the committee’s November meeting, where the rate was held steady at 27 per cent.

While the Monetary Policy Rate saw a downward adjustment, Cardoso noted that the Cash Reserve Ratio was retained at 45 per cent for commercial banks and 16 per cent for merchant banks and the Liquidity Ratio was unchanged at 30 per cent.

The Standing Facilities Corridor was also retained at +50 and -450 basis points around the Monetary Policy Rate.

Details later…