By MIKE ABBAH
Finance experts and analysts have advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to put on hold further interest rate hikes.
The two-day MPC meeting is scheduled for today, Monday to Tuesday, September 23 -24, 2024.
A Director at the Institute of Capital Market Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Prof Uche Uwaleke, and a political economist, Prof Anthony Kila, gave the advice in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
According to Uwaleke, a rate hike is negatively impacting Nigeria’s economic growth, especially the employment growth rate.
“Given that headline inflation has moderated in recent months, my advice to the MPC is to completely pause rate hikes.
“The adverse impact of high interest rates on economic growth and employment is becoming evident, especially in an economy grappling with stagflation,” he said.
On his part, Kila said for MPC’s decision to impact the economy directly, the CBN must review its approach to inflation and economic growth to reflect realities.
“For the MPC to truly matter, the CBN must review its approach to measuring inflation and economic growth to better reflect Nigerians’ realities,” Kila added.
Nigeria has been battling with a high inflation rate which slowed down for the second month to 32.2 percent in August 2024, the softest in six months down from 3.4 percent in July.
