The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso has defended himself amid the current hardship occasioned by the naira depreciation, saying he and his team are not responsible for the woes.
Cardoso said this while answering questions from journalists at the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the apex bank, on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, in Abuja, the first since he assumed office in September 2023.
The CBN governor, however, said the CBN is taking the necessary steps to get the country’s fiscal and monetary health back to normal.
Nigeria is battling rising inflation, food inflation, forex crisis, economic hardship and high cost of living occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy, attracting protests in parts of the country.
Cardoso said the MPC identified non-monetary factors driving inflation such as the persisting insecurity and infrastructure deficit and noted the role of fiscal policy in addressing the shortfall.
While responding to a question that the CBN was responsible for the current economic challenges faced by Nigerians, Cardoso said,
“I laugh at that question but it’s not a laughing matter,” Cardoso retorted.
“And I think it is very important for Nigerians to understand that the Central Bank Governor — I and my team — are not responsible for the woes that we have today; we are part of the solution.
“We are determined to ensure that we work hard to get out of the mess that Nigeria is in. We assumed responsibility in a time of crisis of confidence; there was a crisis of confidence and you may all want to go to bed and wish that crisis of confidence was not there but it was, and we can’t turn back the clock.
“All we can do is do the difficult things to make a bad situation better and I do believe that the efforts that we are making are beginning to bring back confidence because to be frank, without confidence in your business, you are not going to get far.”
The CBN had raised the monetary policy rate (MPR) by 400 basis points to a record 22.75%.This is the highest level we have seen the MPR topping 18.75% which had remained since the last MPC meeting on the 24th and 25th of July 2023.
The apex bank also increased the Cash Reserve Ratio to 45% and maintained the liquidity ratio at 30%. The Asymmetric Corridor was also raised to +200/-700.
The CBN Governor had said with inflation rate at 29.90%, he said the new MPR is part of moves to tackle the country’s inflation.
Meanwhile, a former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu has commended the CBN for raising the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by four hundred basis points to 22.75 percent from 18.75 percent.
Moghalu gave this commendation in a statement via his Twitter handle on Tuesday.
He stated, “Correct move by @cenbank Monetary Policy Committee to dramatically hike the Monetary Policy Rate by 400 basis point to 22.5 %. The situation calls for nothing less if we are to check inflation over 12-18 months. We did the same a decade ago to bring inflation from 14% to 8%.
“It will hit businesses hard, but inflation is hitting harder. We must slay the inflation dragon lest it consume our economy and we head to Zimbabwe/Venezuela. The money supply MUST be reduced. Price stability must take priority before economic growth in the current situation,” he added.
Kommentare