The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, CPPE, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reduce interest rates going forward after the apex bank retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 27.50 percent.

This comes as CPPE backed the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, of the CBN for pausing rate hikes on Thursday.

According to NAN, Muda Yusuf, the Chief Executive Officer of CPPE, disclosed this in an interview on Friday.Yusuf said that the CBN’s decision to pause rate hikes aligned with the centre’s expectations and those of investors.

“This is within the context of the fact that, given the recently rebased inflation rate computation, we have seen a decline in inflation to 24.48 percent, which is currently less than the monetary policy rate.

“So, I think it makes sense to retain the rates so that we don’t further exacerbate the pressure of interest rates on businesses and other citizens with exposure to banks.

“But going forward, I think we should begin to see a moderation in the rates; we should now begin to see a relaxation of these tightening measures.

“So, within that context, we expect that the CBN will relax some of these rates by the next MPC meeting,” he said.

He, however, expressed concern that the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 50 percent is the highest globally.

“I don’t think we should continue on that trajectory. There is no justification for it. Our economic or macroeconomic situation is not so dire as to warrant such an outrageous level of CRR.




https://dailypost.ng/2025/02/21/cppe-makes-fresh-demand-from-cbn-after-interest-pause/