The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) aims to bring inflation down to single digits in the medium to long term, according to the governor, Olayemi Cardoso.
Speaking in Abuja after the 299th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, Cardoso addressed the recent rebasing of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which lowered Nigeria’s inflation rate from 34.8 percent to 24.8 percent. He emphasized that the new inflation figures better reflect the country’s economic reality and align with global best practices.
“Despite the positive shift in inflation figures, the MPC opted to maintain the current MPR to ensure sustained economic stability,” he said. “As always, we are data-driven. What we have is a CPI which is more reflective of the consumption pattern. To that extent, one commends the NBS for bringing this to reality.”
The CBN governor reiterated the bank’s commitment to closely monitoring both domestic and global risks, ensuring proactive measures to safeguard the economy. “We will certainly stay that course. We will be vigilant. We will not take anything for granted,” he stated.
Acknowledging that inflation has remained high for too long, Cardoso reaffirmed the bank’s objective of bringing it down to single digits over time. “Our objective, in the medium to long term, is to ensure that we are able to bring this down from the double digits to the single digit,” he said. “As we continue with the policies that we have embarked upon, we believe that the road of travel will be in that direction.”
He stressed that achieving this goal would require stronger cooperation between monetary and fiscal authorities. “I will be deceiving you to say the fiscal will do it on its own, the monetary will do it on its own. It won’t be,” he noted. “Coordination has always been important. But at no time can it be as important, in my view, as the situation we have now, because we can see change in a positive direction, and we need to not only maintain and hold but also improve it.”
According to Cardoso, the recent monetary policy forum, which brought together both fiscal and monetary authorities, marked a significant step toward better coordination and economic stability.
On Nigeria’s external reserves, he revealed that they stood at $39.4 billion as of February 14, providing an import cover of 9.6 months for goods and services. However, data from the CBN’s website indicated a decline, with reserves dropping to $38.7 billion by February 19, a decrease of $261.5 million.
Despite the slight dip, Cardoso highlighted that ongoing CBN reforms—such as the electronic foreign exchange matching system (EFEMS) and the new foreign exchange (FX) code—have bolstered investor confidence, stabilized the naira, and contributed to the growth of external reserves.