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Nigeria’s Monetary
Policy Committee raised its benchmark interest rate to 6.5 percent on
Tuesday as it seeks to get inflation in sub-Saharan Africa’s
second-biggest economy down to single digits. The MPC maintained a
corridor of plus/minus 200 basis points around the benchmark rate for
its lending and deposit rates respectively but increased the cash
reserve requirement ratio to 2 percent from 1 percent. Central Bank
Governor Lamido Sanusi said the committee had voted by an 11-1 majority
to raise the benchmark rate by 25 basis points, describing it as a
continuation of the “normalisation of monetary policy” after the
financial crisis.