The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has retained Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 12.5 per cent and held all other policy parameters constant.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele disclosed this while reading the communique after the MPC meeting in Abuja on Monday.
Emefiele explained that the committee retained the asymmetric corridor of +200/-500 basis points around the MPR.
He said the MPC also retained the Cash Reserves Ratio (CRR) at 27.5 per cent as well as Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.
“As a result, the Committee noted that the earlier downward adjustment of the MPR by 100 basis points to 12.5 per cent to signal the loosening monetary policy stance is yielding positive impact as credit growth increased significantly in the economy.
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“The Committee also noted the positive impact of the various fiscal and monetary interventions on households, SMEs and manufacturing sectors.
“The MPC also noted that increasing MPR at this stage will thus be counter-intuitive and will result in upward pressure on market rates and cost of production,” he said.
He disclosed that the committee decided by a vote of eight members to hold and two members voted to reduce MPR while all members voted to retain all other policy parameters.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that in May, MPC reviewed downwards Monetary Policy Rates from 13.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, CBN said it has so far funded 20 projects valued at N26.278 billion under the N100 billion credit support intervention for the health sector.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele disclosed this during the inauguration of the Body of Experts (BoE) for Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme in Abuja on Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that CBN had introduced a N100 billion credit support intervention for companies in the Health and Pharmaceutical sector in the country.
Emefiele explained that some of the firms that had been able to obtain funding included hospitals, research centres and pharmaceutical industries.
He said that the primary challenges in Nigeria’s healthcare sector were inadequate funding, poor medical infrastructure and supplies, and inequitable distribution of health workers.
According to him, these problems contributed to the rise in medical tourism.
He said the programme was CBN’s proactive measures to cushion the impact of COVID -19 on the economy and to support the growth of the healthcare sector.
The CBN governor noted that the intervention fund would help improve healthcare delivery capacity, while supporting improved production of health related products and services.
Emefiele said to address the health challenges, the apex bank had also initiated the Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme (HSRDIS) to develop vaccines and drugs for infectious diseases.
NAN reports that Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) was appointed to head the body of experts which comprised academics and health experts.
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