kkGovernor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has indicated that he may limit interest-rate increases to help spur lending in the country, following reduction in demand for foreign currency, and pressure on the naira.
Sanusi said in South Africa on Wednesday with Bloomberg that, “We frontloaded a lot of the increase that people thought we’d do gradually over the year” when central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 1 percentage point to 7.5 percent on March 22.
He said that the CBN is aiming to bring inflation down below 10 percent. Rising energy and food costs this year pushed the inflation rate to an annual 12.8 percent in March from 11.1 percent a month earlier, the statistics office said on April 18. While the central bank is aware of rising price pressures it also wants to avoid undermining stability in financial markets after using $4 billion to bail out banks in 2009.
Sanusi said in South Africa on Wednesday with Bloomberg that, “We frontloaded a lot of the increase that people thought we’d do gradually over the year” when central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 1 percentage point to 7.5 percent on March 22.
He said that the CBN is aiming to bring inflation down below 10 percent. Rising energy and food costs this year pushed the inflation rate to an annual 12.8 percent in March from 11.1 percent a month earlier, the statistics office said on April 18. While the central bank is aware of rising price pressures it also wants to avoid undermining stability in financial markets after using $4 billion to bail out banks in 2009.
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