Nigeria’s central bank has lowered its benchmark lending rate for the first time in five years, delivering a half-point cut amid cooling inflation and continued stability of the local naira currency.
Tuesday’s decision lowered the bank’s key interest rate to 27 per cent and was in line with the median forecast in a Bloomberg poll of economists.
Central bank governor Olayemi Cardoso said at a press conference in the capital Abuja that the decision of the 12-member Monetary Policy Committee was based on disinflation in the country — which is expected to continue — and the need to support a still-struggling economy.
Headline annual inflation slowed to 20.1 per cent in August, down from 21.9 per cent in July, marking five consecutive months of cooling prices.
Razia Khan, Standard Chartered’s head of research for Africa and the Middle East, said the central bank’s stance showed there was the possibility of
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