The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has temporarily withdrawn the Monetary, Credit, Foreign Trade, And Exchange Policy Guidelines For Fiscal Years 2024 – 2025 document.
The document was published on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.
But the CBN has said the revocation of the document is to minimise risks of any further misrepresentation or misinterpretation, resulting in confusion among stakeholders.
It disclosed this in a new statement published on its website on Friday. The new release was, however, not signed by any CBN official.
On Tuesday, excerpts of the policy documents stated that the Bank will sustain its Ways and Means Advances to the Federal Government at a 5 per cent limit for the fiscal years 2024-2025, contrary to a bill passed by the National Assembly which raised the maximum borrowing percentage in the Act from five per cent to ten per cent.
Another controversial excerpt was the reinstatement of the cyber security levy, which was earlier suspended early this year due to serious public backlash.
But refuting these claims, the CBN said the guidelines were misunderstood by some outlets as new policies when, they are a compilation of previously issued policies and directives effective until December 31, 2023.
It also noted that some policies mentioned in the guidelines have been revised or replaced by newer updates.