CBN Increases Interest Rate To 18.5%

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the interest rate from 18 percent to 18.5 percent.

The apex bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced the decision  on Wednesday after the policy-setting committee meeting at the CBN headquarters in Abuja.

The development is the third consecutive time the apex bank will be raising the monetary policy rate (MPR) which measures the interest rate.

This is coming a week after the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the country’s inflation rate for the month of April hit 22.22% surpassing last month’s rate of 22.04%.

According to the report, in April 2023, the headline inflation rate rose to 22.22% relative to March 2023 headline inflation rate which was 22.04%. Looking at the movement, the April 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.18% points when compared to March 2023 headline inflation rate.

This marks the third consecutive time the apex bank will be raising the benchmark rate this year.