The monetary policy stance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yielded inflows of over $1.5 billion into the economy over the past few days, the apex bank said.
During the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the CBN opted to further tighten its monetary policy by raising the lending rate for commercial activities by 200 basis points to 24.75 per cent from 22.75 per cent while adjusting the asymmetric corridor around the MPR to +100/-300 basis points
Although the apex bank retained the Cash Reserve Ratio of Deposit Money Banks at 45.0 percent, the Cash Reserve Ratio of Merchant Banks was adjusted from 10 percent to 14 percent anf Liquidity Ratio retained at 30 percent.
In a statement in Abuja on Friday, the Bank’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications Department, Hakama Sidi Ali, said the inflow of over $1.5 billion to the economy days after the latest policy decisions were announced was an indication the CBN monetary policy interventions were working and impacting the economy positively.
Sidi-Ali said that data available to the Bank revealed that the inflows resulted from the Bank’s concerted effort to stabilise the foreign exchange market.
She said the Naira has continued to show signs of recovery, as it has continued to record gains in the Autonomous Foreign Exchange market trading at N1,309 to the dollar as against N1,611 to the dollar in the second week of March 2024.
While noting that Thursday’s rate signified that the Naira was headed in the right direction, she assured that the Cardoso-led CBN would remain committed to ensuring the stability of the market and the appropriate pricing of the Naira against other major currencies worldwide.
During his post-meeting media briefing on Tuesday, the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, reiterated the CBN determination to clear all verified foreign exchange backlog, underscoring the fact that liquidity would improve in the foreign exchange market.
On Wednesday, the CBN conducted the Nigerian Treasury Bills (NTBs) auction of N1.64 trillion at stop rates of 16.24 percent , 17 percent , and 21.124 percent for the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day tenors, respectively.
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