The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday increased its benchmark interest rate, known as the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 50 basis points to 27.25 percent, the fifth straight hike this year.
The CBN also raised the Cash Reserve Ratio by 500 basis point to 50 percent from 45 percent.
After the two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja, Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN who announced the outcome of the meeting, said the members agreed to hold other parameters unchanged.
Consequently, the CBN retained the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +100/-300 basis points, cash reserve ratio (CRR) at 45 percent, and retained the liquidity ratio (LR) at 30 percent.
Most analysts had expected the CBN to pause rate hike following the slowing inflationary pressure and increase in foreign inflows.