Coalition lauds CBN’s Governor, Emefiele over lending rate 17.5% to contain inflation

A coalition of Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, under the auspices of Coalition of Civil Society on Good Governance, CCSGG, Tuesday, hailed the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Godwin Emefiele, over lending rate of 17.5 per cent to contain current inflationary trend.
This was contained in a statement signed by the President, CCSGG, Bassey Etuk, and Secretary, CCSGG, Abubakar Ibrahim, respectively, where the coalition pointed that the Nigerian economy has been sustained due to laudable policies by the CBN Governor all this while.
The statement reads in part, “The Coalition of Civil Society Organizations on Good Governance, CCSGG, hails the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, over pushing lending rate to 17.5 per cent to contain inflationary impact on the economy.
“This is a step in the right direction because this lending rate will cushion the impact on the nation’s economy and reduce the pressure on Nigerians.
“We support the policies by the CBN Governor, and we will educate other Nigerians about these policies because it is for their good and wellbeing including unborn Nigerians.”
The statement also maintained that the CBN Governor is doing everything possibly to stabilize the economy and sustain it on the path of growth and development despite some disgruntled elements are misinterpreting his policies.
“We want to let Nigerians know that he (Emefiele) is tirelessly working to stop sponsors and perpetrators of money laundering with the recent new Naira design that threw corrupt Nigerians off balance who have cooked up stories and unfounded allegations to bring his image and personality to disrepute and also involving some security agencies through the backdoor to arrest him him but all their plots and efforts have been dashed into shambles.”
The coalition added that they would do everything possibly to ensure the policies of the Emefiele-led CBN are implemented for the benefit of Nigerians.
It would be recalled today (Tuesday) the CBN raised its lending rate to 17.5 per cent to contain current inflation trend.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, made this known after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting that began Monday.
During a media briefing in Abuja, according to Emefiele, the committee voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR.
He also added that the MPC voted to keep the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5 per cent, as well as the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.
He explained that the CRR is the share of a bank’s total customer deposit that must be kept with Apex Bank in form of liquid cash, while the bank’s liquidity ratio is the proportion of deposits and other assets they must maintain to be able to meet short-term obligations.
Meanwhile, Imin November, the MPC raised its benchmark lending rate to 16.5 per cent in a sustained push to control inflation and ease pressure on the Naira.