The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) yesterday lamented the continued decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to maintain the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 27.5 per cent since November 2024, despite a global wave of interest rate reductions aimed at revitalising economic productivity and combating stagflation.
Specifically, the LCCI stressed that the current MPR level was prohibitively high for private sector development.
Likewise, NECA expressed concern over the CBN’s continued reliance on monetary policy tightening.
The MPC at the end of its meeting on Tuesday decided to keep all its monetary policy tools unchanged.
The manufacturers’ association expressed its view in a statement titled, “MAN Calls for Urgent Interest Rate Cut to Protect Nigeria’s Industrial Base,” signed by the Director General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir.
Ajayi-Kadir said the CBN was given to seeking to attract speculative foreign portfolio investors at the expense of Nigeria’s manufacturing base, which is now choked by unsustainable borrowing costs.
