Nigeria’s central bank has held its benchmark interest rate at 27 percent, with Governor Olayemi Cardoso warning that inflation remained stubbornly high despite recent easing.
Some analysts had expected a one-percentage-point cut, following September’s 50 basis point reduction, the first since 2020.
Consumer inflation slowed for the seventh straight month in October to 16.05 percent year-on-year, down from 24.48 percent in January. But Cardoso said more work was needed to curb price pressures.
“Headline inflation remains high at double digits and requires sustained efforts towards moderating it further,” he told reporters after a two-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee in Abuja.
The bank also left other key policy tools unchanged, including the cash reserve ratio at 45 percent for deposit money banks and 16 percent for merchant banks, while the liquidity ratio stayed at 30 percent.
The CBN last cut the monetary policy rate in September 2025, when it lowered it to 27 percent. The previous reduction was in September 2020, when the rate was dropped from 12.5 percent to 11.5 percent to support the economy during the COVID-19 crisis.
