The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has criticized last week’s decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to hike interest rates, saying it portends danger to manufacturing.
The Committee had increased the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 150 base points to 15.5 percent with an asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR, and Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) by 750 base points to 32.5 percent; while retaining the Liquidity Ratio at 30 percent.
MAN said the increase was aimed at moderating the high inflation and narrowing the gap between the MPR of 14 percent and the inflation rate which stood at 20.52 percent in August to improve the level of real interest rate.
MAN‘s Director-General (DG) Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said the implications of the MPC’s decision portend worrisome negative consequences for the manufacturing sector, some of which include increased cost of borrowing by manufacturers.
