Experts are expecting  that the Monetary Policy Committee  of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will retain the benchmark interest rate and others at the end of its first meeting in 2022.

CBN had disclosed that it would hold its next MPC meeting on Monday (today) and Tuesday. At the last meeting in November 2021, the MPC retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 11.5 per cent; asymmetric corridor at +100/–700 basis points; Cash Reserve Ratio at 27.5 per cent; and liquidity ratio at 30.0 per cent.” A former President, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Dr Sam Nzekwe, said that the MPC would retain the current rates during its next meeting. According to him, there has not been much activity in the economy because the year is still new. “The first quarter cannot determine anything until second quarter. I think they should maintain all rates at the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting as they are because we don’t even know the direction during the first quarter now,” he said. Analysts at FSDH Research, in their macroeconomic update report, recalled that the MPC had earlier in 2021 noted that the drivers of inflation in Nigeria were non-monetary factors, adding that the fiscal authorities needed to intensify efforts to address structural issues such as infrastructural deficit, security challenges, and high transport cost.

Culled from PUNCH, except headline.