By Sodeinde Temidayo David
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has rescheduled the two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for Thursday, September 16 and Friday, September 17.
This was disclosed in a circular issued by the apex bank.
Business Post reports that the MPC meeting was earlier fixed for Monday, September 20 and Tuesday, September 21, but it was moved backwards. No reason was given for the change in date.
The last MPC meeting was held in July at the end of the gathering, the committee retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which is the benchmark interest rate, at 11.5 per cent.
The team also retained the other parameters as the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was left at 27.5 per cent, the Liquidity Ratio was also kept at 30 per cent, and the asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points.
Also at the July gathering, the Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, announced the ban of the sale of foreign exchange (FX) to Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators. This shock policy has continued to affect the value of the Naira at the various segments of the market, especially the parallel market, where the local currency has sunk to a low of N532/$1.
At the forthcoming meeting, the team will discuss monetary policies, which are basically to control inflation, maintain a healthy balance of payment position in order to safeguard the external value of the national currency and promote an adequate and sustainable level of economic growth and development.
These goals are achieved by controlling the nation’s money supply in order to enhance price stability (low and stable inflation) and economic growth.
