The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 27 per cent citing the need to allow previous reduction to sufficiently transmit to the economy.

Meanwhile the apex bank disclosed that 16 banks have met the new minimum capital requirements, adding that 27 had raised capital.

CBN Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso announced this at the end of the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for the year in Abuja, adding that the apex bank recovered N2 trillion of the intervention funds in the last two years, while N4.69 trillion is still outstanding.

He said, “The committee decided by a majority vote to maintain the current monetary policy stance with an adjustment to the corridor as follows: Retain the monetary policy rate MPR at 27%; Adjust the standing facility corridor around the MPR at plus 50 to minus 450 basis points.”

Cardoso added that the MPC retained the Cash Reserve Requirement, CRR for Deposit Money Banks at 45%; merchant banks at 16% and 75% for non- TSA public sector deposits; and while retaining the liquidity ratio unchanged at 30% Cardoso said the committee’s decision was underpinned by the need to sustain the progress made so far towards achieving low and stable inflation.

“The MPC reaffirmed its commitment to a data driven assessment of development and outlook to guide future policy decisions, considerations. The committee welcomed the continued deceleration in headline inflation year-on-year for the seventh consecutive month,” he said.

He said, “This favorable development resulted from several factors, including sustained monetary policy tightening, stable exchange rate, increased capital flows and surplus current account balance.

“In addition, the relative stability in the price of premium motor spirit, PMS and improved food supply supported the pace of disinflation.

“However, headline inflation remains high at double digit, requiring sustained efforts towards moderating it further. The committee was therefore of the view that the steady deceleration in inflation across the three measures, headline, core and food in October 2025 suggests that the large impact of previous tight policy measures is expected to continue in the near term, thus maintaining the current stance of policy amidst lingering global uncertainties would allow the effect of previous policy rate hikes to sufficiently transmit to the real economy and further.”

Speaking on the outstanding intervention funds, Cardoso said that the apex bank cannot introduce new intervention programmes due to the huge amount of past interventions that remain outstanding, which limits ability to support new initiatives

“Now, we did a survey, a small study, of interventions in the central bank. And we came out with certain numbers, which showed that intervention, total amount of intervention was about N10.93 trillion, which goes back perhaps 2010 or 2013.

“Now, out of that, we still have an outstanding of N4.69 trillion naira, which represents about 43 percent of those interventions. Since we have come, we’ve been able to reign back about N2 trillion. This is a humongous amount of money.”

CBN holds fire…missed opportunity?

Reacting to the decision of the CBN to retain the MPR, Mr. Lukman Otunuga, Manager/Market Analyst, FXTM said that analysts were expecting a reduction in the rate.

He said analysts were expecting rates to be slashed by at least 50bp as inflation moved closer to the government’s year-end target of 15%. Such a rate cut could have provided a critical boost to the economy, providing support to businesses while sparking investments. However, the committee decided to adopt a cautious stance on lower rates, focusing on data dependency for future moves.

Nevertheless, further signs of cooling price pressures may prompt the CBN to pull the trigger on the rate cut in 2026.