Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for 2022 will take place on Monday, January 24 and Tuesday, January 25, a calendar of the meeting posted on the website of the apex bank has shown.
The MPC meeting is usually held for two days, with the second day used by the CBN Governor to reveal the outcome of deliberations.
At the moment, the MPC comprises 10 persons, including the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who is the chairman.
The Deputy Governor in charge of Financial System Stability, Ms Aisha Ahmad; Deputy Governor for Corporate Services, Edward Adamu; Deputy Governor for Operations, Folashodun Shonubi; Deputy Governor for Economic Policy, Kingsley Obiora; and Professor of Economics, University of Ibadan, Festus Adenikinju; are members.
Other members of the panel are Aliyu Sanusi, Associate Professor of Economics, Ahmadu Bello University; Robert Asogwa, African Development Bank (AfDB), Abuja; Mike Obadan, Professor of Economics, University of Benin; and Aliyu Ahmed, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance.
The MPC is the highest policy-making committee of the CBN and has the mandate to review economic and financial conditions in the economy; determine appropriate stance of policy in the short to medium term; review regularly, the CBN monetary policy framework and adopt changes when necessary; and communicate monetary/financial policy decisions effectively to the public and ensure the credibility of the model.
At its last meeting in November 2021, the committee voted to retain the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which is the benchmark interest rate at 11.5 per cent, the Asymmetric Window at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR, the Liquidity Ratio (LR) at 30 per cent and the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 27.5 per cent.
Members of the team had stressed that the decision to hold the rates was to allow for more time for the policies and interventions of the apex bank to mature and achieve their objectives.
It is not certain if the rates would tamper with this time, but from past trends, this will likely not happen because it is still early in the new year and changing the rates could disrupt the gains and mount pressure on the struggling economy.
