CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee Meeting to Now Hold February 19

In a statement on Monday, the apex bank said the meeting would now be held on the new dates. It didn’t give a specific reason for ...ponement.

The statement read, “The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that the 299th meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee earlier scheduled for February 17 and 18, 2025, will now be held on Wednesday, February 19 and Thursday, February 20, 2025.”

The development ends speculations over the meeting dates, which arose due to delays by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in releasing the rebased Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the country’s monthly inflation.

Market analysts are keenly watching to see if the committee will retain or increase the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) in response to prevailing economic conditions.

The NBS typically releases its CPI report on the 15th of every month. So, if the agency maintains this tradition, the inflation report will give the committee adequate time to ponder and come up with proper policies.

In 2024 alone, the CBN hiked interest by 8.75 per cent amid a 34 per cent inflation environment.

The first MPC meeting for 2025 was initially set for January 27–28 but was moved to February, reportedly to allow time for the rebased inflation and GDP figures to be released.

This would not be the first time the CBN postponed its MPC meeting under the governorship of Mr Yemi Cardoso. After he was newly appointed in September 2023, the CBN postponed a meeting of its MPC.

The CBN held its first MPC meeting of 2024 on February 26 and 27, which was also the first under Mr Cardoso’s leadership.