The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria met on June 2,
2008. The Committee reviewed the major domestic and international macroeconomic
developments in the first five months of the year. It noted that despite
the stability in the economy during the period, there were many uncertainties
that could threaten the Central Bank’s objective of low and single digit
inflation.
The Committee decided as follows:
strengthen the use of instruments such as open market operations
and special sale of foreign exchange;
raise the MPR by 25 basis points from 10.0 per cent to 10.25 per
cent;
increase the CRR by 100 basis points from 3.0 per cent to 4.0 per
cent with effect from June 09, 2008; and
set up a technical committee to work out other intervention
securities to further strengthen the effectiveness of liquidity management.
The reasons for the decisions included the upward oil and food price
movements, the fiscal expansion, and the international financial market
conditions.
202nd MPC Meeting of 1st April, 2008
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria met on April 1,
2008. The Committee reviewed the major domestic and international macroeconomic
developments in the first quarter of the year. It noted that despite the
stability in the economy during the quarter, there were many uncertainties that
could threaten the single digit inflation objectives of the Bank. The Committee
decided as follows to:
raise the MPR by 50 basis points from 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent;
issue treasury bills for liquidity management; and
increase the sale foreign exchange as the need arises.
The reasons for the decisions included the current rate of inflation; the
impact of that growth of monetary aggregates in 2007 on the first quarter of
2008; the impact of the continued inflow of foreign private capital into the
economy and the actual and potential effect of the recent sharing of the naira
equivalent of the excess crude oil revenue as well as the scheduled distribution
of the second round in June, 2008. The proposed budget also contained
significant increases in expenditure which would lead to fiscal deficits in the
next two quarters.
201st MPC Meeting of February 2008
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria met on 5th
February 2008 to review the major domestic and international macroeconomic
developments and observed that the outlook for 2008 while being positive has
many elements of uncertainty. The Committee, therefore, decided:
To leave the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) unchanged at 9.5 per cent
To continue the use of open market operations (OMO) for liquidity
management and appropriate exchange rate policies
Paris Club of Creditors:The club represents only government guaranteed creditors. Members include the United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Canada, who guarantee the export activities of their nationals. When the recipient nation s government is unable to pay the equivalent of the imports domestic currency cover, it becomes government debt owed to creditor nations. The first Paris Club meeting was held in 1956.