Central Banks
Nigeria Lifts Interest Rates to Record and Signals More to Come
- Decision to increase benchmark gauge was unanimous: governor
- Inflation would have been about 800 bps higher without action
Nigeria raised interest rates for an unprecedented seventh consecutive time to dampen inflation and support the naira, and signaled it’s prepared to hike further after research showed the increase in borrowing costs is yielding results.
The monetary policy committee lifted the benchmark rate by half a percentage point to 18.5%, Governor Godwin Emefiele said in Abuja, the capital, on Wednesday. That’s the highest level since the policy rate was adopted in 2006. The increase matched the median estimate of 14 economists in a Bloomberg survey.