The Central Bank of Nigeria has left the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) unchanged at 14 per cent.
Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor
The Apex bank arrived at its decision after the conclusion of the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the CBN, which began on Monday and ended today, November 21.
The Punch reports that the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, who briefed newsmen on the outcome of the meeting of the ten member committee, explained that holding all the rates is best for the economy at the moment.
Emefiele said the committee also voted to retain the Cash Reserves Ratio at 22.5 per cent.
Also retained are the Liquidity Ratio, which was left at 30 per cent; and the Asymmetric Window which was left at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR.
The retention of the benchmark interest rates is happening at a time the country is experiencing deepening recession coupled with worsening inflation.
The Nigerian economy has plunged deeper into recession as gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 2.24 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the third quarter of 2016, from 2.06 per cent from the previous quarter, according to Premium Times.
According to a report of the the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, November 21, Real GDP for the third quarter stood at about N1.78 trillion.
The contraction of the economy in the third quarter was lower by 0.18 per cent points from the preceding quarter, the report said.
The agency said the figure was also lower by 5.08 per cent points from the growth recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2015.
Details of the report showed that aggregate GDP, in nominal terms at basic prices, stood at about N26.6 trillion, against the N24.3 trillion in the third quarter of 2015.
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