The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria has voted to increase the benchmark interest rate (monetary policy rate) to 14% from 13%, being the second hawkish move by the apex bank in 2022 following the rising rate of inflation.
This was disclosed by the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, while reading the communique of the first monetary policy committee meeting of the year, on Tuesday 19th July 2022.
The Central Bank during its last MPC meeting had increased the interest rate from 11.5% to 13.5% in May 2022, however with inflation rate still spiking above 18%, the CBN has raised the rate further to 14% in a bid to combat the rising cost of goods and services.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s inflation rate hit an over 5-year high of 18.6% in June 2022, from 17.71% recorded in the previous month, largely due to the surge in energy prices and transportation costs.
