CBN maintains Benchmark Rate at 11.50% – 17 September 2021

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) concluded its fifth monetary policy meeting of 2021 today, maintaining all key rates. Please see below, a summary of the committee’s decisions.  
 
–          Retain MPR at 11.50%
–          Retain CRR at 27.50%
–          Retain Liquidity ratio at 30%
–          Maintain an asymmetric corridor at +100/–700 basis points around the MPR.

Key considerations by the MPC in retaining key policy rates were the nation’s positive growth, recording a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of +5.01% in Q2 2021, and persistent drop in headline inflation at 17.01% in August 2021.

In its effort to keep track of illicit forex trading activities, the CBN governor re-emphasized that the only recognizable FX rate is the I&E FX rate. He also confirmed investigations into AbokiFX, an online platform that tracks the value of the Naira in the parallel market, for alleged Foreign Exchange (FX) speculation and manipulation. This comes after the Naira depreciated against the U.S. Dollar, to its lowest in history, at the parallel market window, trading at ₦570.00/$1.

FINANCIAL MARKETS TODAY – 17 September 2021

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) concluded its 2-day meeting today, retaining all key policy rates – The Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Liquidity ratio at 11.50%, 27.50% and 30.00% respectively, while maintaining an asymmetric corridor at +100/–700 basis points around the MPR. Key considerations by the MPC in retaining key policy rates were the nation’s positive growth – recording a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of +5.01% in Q2 2021, and persistent drop in headline inflation at 17.01% in August 2021.

FINANCIAL MARKETS TODAY – 16 September 2021

Interbank system liquidity opened with a deficit of ca ₦102.18 billion today, worse than previous day’s opening balance of ca ₦64.56billion. Thus, the Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight (ON) rates trended lower to settle at 7.00% and 7.75% from 13.00% and 13.55% respectively, the previous day.

Re: FINANCIAL MARKETS TODAY – 15 September 2021

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) confirmed in its monthly report, the nation’s fifth consecutive month of disinflation, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation settling at 17.01% year-on-year in August 2021 vs 17.38% recorded in July 2021. The Food and Core sub indices both grew at slower rates in the month, settling at 20.30% and 13.41% year-on-year in August 2021 from 21.03% and 13.72% respectively, in July 2021. This is attributable to the persistent decrease in food prices.

We expect continued disinflation in the near term, due to the high base-effect of last year.

FINANCIAL MARKETS TODAY – 14 September 2021

Banking system liquidity opened with a deficit of ca ₦94.47 billion today, lower than previous day’s opening deficit of ca ₦15.07 billion, despite inflows from Open Market Operations (OMO) maturities of ca ₦38.00 billion. However, the Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight (ON) rates trended lower to settle at 14.00% and 14.50% from 14.50% and 14.75% respectively, the previous day.