Next MPC Meeting May Hold March 29—CBN Governor

March 16, 2018
MPC Meeting CBN

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has hinted that the next Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the apex bank may take place between seven to 10 days behind schedule.

According to the MPC Meeting calendar for 2018 posted on the website of the central bank, the next meeting is slated for Monday, March 19 and Tuesday, March 20.

With the CBN Governor’s hint, the meeting may likely hold on Monday, March 26 or Thursday, March 29.

Explaining the rationale behind this on Thursday in Niger State, Mr Emefiele said after the Senate screens the two Deputy Governors of the CBN and four members of the MPC, a meeting will still hold before the main meeting.

This week, the Senate agreed to screen the MPC nominees sent to the parliament last year by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The process was initially halted because of a disagreement between the lawmakers and the executive over the refusal of the latter to remove Mr Ibrahim Magu as the country’s anti-corruption agency’s chief.

The first MPC meeting for this year was cancelled in January after the committee could not form a quorum.

The names of the two Deputy Governors sent for confirmation are Aisha Ahmad and Edward Adamu, while the new MPC members submitted to the Senate by Mr Buhari for screening were Adeola Adenikinju, Robert Asogwa, Asheikh Maidugu, and Aliyu Sanusi.

Speaking on the decision of the parliament to confirm the nominees, the CBN Governor said, “I am delighted the Senate has now decided to screen the nominees earlier sent to them by Mr President.”

“But, we will have a few days delay. What I suspect is we will be holding our committee of governors meeting after that.

“It is the meeting that will decide when we the MPC will meet. I believe we will just have between seven to 10 days delay for the MPC to hold,” Mr Emefiele told newsmen during the launch of the Sunti Sugar factory owned by the Flour Mills Nigeria yesterday.

After the January MPC meeting was cancelled, the central bank announced that the hold rates at its last meeting in 2017 would continue. This left the monetary policy rate at 14 percent and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) at 22.5 percent.

It is expected that at the next MPC meeting, the apex bank may announce a reduction in the major rates.

Modupe Gbadeyanka

Modupe Gbadeyanka is a fast-rising journalist with Business Post Nigeria. Her passion for journalism is amazing. She is willing to learn more with a view to becoming one of the best pen-pushers in Nigeria. Her role models are the duo of CNN's Richard Quest and Christiane Amanpour.

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