The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday held its benchmark interest rate, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), unchanged at 27.5 per cent, pressing pause on its aggressive tightening stance over the past months fuelled by the need to curb runaway inflation.

The unanimous ‘hold’ decision, announced by CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso at the end of the 299th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) held Wednesday and Thursday, hinges on the positive macro indicators of stable foreign exchange, exchange rate appreciation, availability of petrol.

The MPC also put all other parameters on hold.

Since 2022, the CBN has raised rates by a cumulative 16 percentage points in an effort to curb decades-high inflation and steady the naira, which has depreciated 70 per cent against the dollar following currency reforms in 2023.

At its last meeting for 2024 held in November, the CBN had raised the MPR by 25 basis points to 27.50 per cent from 27.25 per cent, retained the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +500/-100 basis points, the Cash Reserve Ratio of Deposit Money Banks at 50.00 per cent and Merchant Banks at 16 per cent, and the Liquidity Ratio at 30.00 per cent.