Washington D.C, April 11, 2023 –  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved of Nigeria’s recent monetary tightening stance and advised the Central Bank of Nigeria to check against the global rising inflationary pressures.
The IMF gave the approval in the Global Financial Stability Report released on Tuesday at the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Spring meetings holding in Washington DC.
It said the global financial system was being tested by higher inflation and rising interest rates at a time when inflation in many jurisdictions remained uncomfortably above central banks’ targets.
Nigeria’s inflation rose in January and February from 21.82 per cent to 21.91, respectively in spite of the hike in the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Rate from 16.5 per cent to 17.5 per cent in January 2023.
This made the CBN to implement a second increase in the MPR to 18 per cent in the month of March this year.
Nigeria’s central bank has increased the interest rate six times in the last 24 months. The interest rate was initially set at 11.5 percent between 2021 to March 2022.
It was raised to 13 percent in May and 14.0 percent in July last year. It rose to 15 and 16.5 percent between September and December 2022.
The interest rate was increased further from 16.5 percent in December 2022 to 17.5 percent in January 2023 until last month when it was raised to 18 percent. (GBN)
