Nigeria central bank hikes rate further as inflation bites
Rewrites throughout with context, governor and analyst comments
By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo and Chijioke Ohuocha
ABUJA, July 23 (Reuters) -Nigeria's central bank on Tuesday raised its benchmark interest rate for the fourth time this year, as inflation surged to a 28-year high and the naira came under renewed pressure on both the official and parallel markets.
Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso said the rise in the bank's main lending rate to 26.75% from 26.25% NGCBIR=ECI was needed to tackle inflation.
"While monetary policy has been moderating aggregate demand, rising food and energy costs continue to exert upward pressure on price development," Cardoso told a press conference.
Tuesday's decision by the bank's Monetary Policy Committee to hike the rate by 50 basis points comes after increases of 150 bps in May, 200 bps in March and 400 bps in February, its largest in around 17 years.
Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 50 bps hike, as inflation rose for the 19th straight month in Africa's most populous nation to 34.19% in annual terms in June NGCPIY=ECI.
"For now, we think that today's decision marks the final act in this hiking cycle," David Omojomolo, Africa economist at Capital Economics, said.
"But there's clearly a risk that further inflation surprises prompt the (central bank) to tighten monetary conditions further, either through outright rate hikes or by tweaking liquidity provision," he said, adding that rate cuts were unlikely until next year.
Last week, President Bola Tinubu's government agreed to raise the minimum wage to 70,000 naira ($44) a month after asking lawmakers to approve 6.2 trillion naira in additional spending to plug shortfalls in this year's budget, possibly stoking inflation further.
Price pressures have been spurred by Tinubu's administration slashing petrol and electricity subsidies and twice devaluing the local naira currency NGN=D1.
Cardoso has indicated that rates will stay high for as long as needed to bring down inflation.
The International Monetary Fund in May maintained its growth forecast of 3.3% for Nigeria's economy for 2024, up from 2.9% last year, citing a pick up in services and trade sectors.
It has welcomed central bank's recent rate hikes to curb galloping inflation and called for a data-driven approach to further rate tightening while urging the bank to build up its forex reserves.
($1 = 1,585.0000 naira)
Reporting by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo, Chijioke Ohuocha and MacDonald Dzirutwe, Writing by Bhargav Acharya
Editing by Bate Felix and Alison Williams
Eng oxirgi yangiliklar
Javobgarlikdan voz kechish: XM Group korxonalari har biri faqat ijro xizmatlarini koʻrsatadi va onlayn savdo platformamizdan foydalanish huquqini beradi, bu odamga veb-saytda yoki veb-sayt orqali mavjud boʻlgan kontentni koʻrish va/yoki undan foydalanishga ruxsat beradi hamda uni oʻzgartirishga moʻljallanmagan va uni oʻzgartirmaydi yoki kengaytirmaydi. Bunday kirish va foydalanish huquqi doimo quyidagilarga boʻysunadi: (i) Shartlar va qoidalar; (ii) Risklar haqida ogohlantirish; va (iii) Javobgarlikni toʻliq rad etish. Shuning uchun bunday kontent umumiy maʼlumot sifatida taqdim etiladi. Xususan, shuni esda tutingki, bizning onlayn savdo platformamiz mazmuni moliyaviy bozorlarda biror bitimni amalga oshirishga oid maslahat yoki taklif emas. Har qanday moliyaviy bozorda savdo qilish sizning kapitalingiz uchun jiddiy risk darajasini oʻz ichiga oladi.
Onlayn savdo platformamizda chop etilgan barcha materiallar faqat taʼlim/axborot maqsadlari uchun moʻljallangan va unda moliyaviy, investitsiya soligʻi yoki savdo maslahatlari va tavsiyalar; yoki bizning savdo narxlarimizning qaydlari; yoki har qanday moliyaviy vositalar bilan bitim tuzish maslahati yoki taklifi; yoki sizga kerak boʻlmagan moliyaviy reklama aksiyalari hisoblanmaydi
Har qanday uchinchi tomon kontenti, shuningdek XM tomonidan tayyorlangan kontent, masalan: fikrlar, yangiliklar, tadqiqotlar, tahlillar, narxlar va boshqa maʼlumotlar yoki bu veb-saytda joylashgan uchinchi tomon saytlariga havolalar umumiy bozor sharhi sifatida "boricha" taqdim etiladi va investitsiya maslahatini tashkil etmaydi. Har qanday kontent investitsiya tadqiqoti sifatida talqin qilinsa, siz bunday kontentni investitsiya tadqiqotlarining mustaqilligini ragʻbatlantirish uchun moʻljallangan qonun talablariga muvofiq moʻljallanmagan va tayyorlanmaganligini eʼtiborga olishingiz va qabul qilishingiz kerak, shuning uchun unga tegishli qonunlar va qoidalarga muvofiq marketing kommunikatsiyasi sifatida qaraladi. Mustaqil boʻlmagan investitsiya tadqiqoti va yuqoridagi maʼlumotlarga oid risk haqida ogohlantirishimizni oʻqib chiqqaningizga va tushunganingizga ishonch hosil qiling, unga bu yerdan kirish mumkin.
