Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 13.5 per cent.Reason: The possibility of interest rate cut now hinges on the corresponding fall in inflation rate to nine per cent or below before considering cutting its key rate, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has hinted.
For Emefiele, the condition is not likely to happen this year, but can “only happen next year.”“I’m not seeing that [interest rate cut] coming this year. During the course of 2020, we may be able to see that, but I can’t see that until we begin to see the numbers showing inflation is trending downward,” Emefiele said in an interview with Bloomberg TV, in London, yesterday.
The development is coming as a disappointing one for many in the real sector, who have long craved for easing regime, especially with a renewed hope for its realization given the 48-month low inflation rate at 11.02 per cent.The apex bank chief, while acknowledging the positive moderation in inflation, though slowly from 11.08 per cent in July to 11.02 per cent in August 2019, said it was still above the target range of 6-9 per cent.
