The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 13.5 per cent.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) after the two-day meeting which held at the apex bank’s headquarters in Abuja.

According to Emefiele, all members of the committee had agreed to retain the current monetary policy stance.

“An increase in the MPR will be taken by the deposit in the money banks as an invitation to increase lending rates and this will be most undesirable at this point in time when efforts are being made to avert a recession.

“Besides, a reduction in the MPR will not make the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) reduce lending rates but other strategies of the CBN are making the DMBs to reduce the lending rates in furtherance of growth objectives,” he stated.

“In view of the foregoing, the Committee by unanimous vote to retain monetary policy rate at 13.5 per cent and to hold all other parameters constant,” he stated.

Emefiele explained that the committee held the Cash Reserves Ratio at 27.5 per cent, while the Liquidity Ratio was left unchanged at 30 per cent.