The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, said the Central Bank of Nigeria got it wrong again by raising the Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, to 22.75 per cent.
The governor made this known in a speech as a guest speaker during the Annual Dinner of Edo Zone Bankers Committee in Benin City, the Edo State capital, as shared in a video posted on his official X account on Monday.
Obaseki contended that the recent CBN decision, taken at its 293rd Monetary Policy Council, MPC, meeting, will not address the economic hardship in the country , which has been compounded by soaring inflation.
He emphasized that the country must focus on fundamentals, which is production.
He said, “I understand the monetary rationale for increasing MPR, but fundamentally and fiscally, it will not lead to economic growth.
“We must focus on the fundamentals: increasing production, ensuring our citizens produce the goods and services we consume and depend less on imports.
“Our economic and monetary policies cannot be determined by exchange rate alone. So, this whole issue of increasing the cash reserves in a bid to tighten liquidity is going to be detrimental to our economy. I understand the monetary authorities’ challenge, but unfortunately, you cannot plan with one hand.
“The economy is about the fiscal and monetary policies; both must work hand in hand, and when they don’t, as in Nigeria, we will have crises. So, we should focus on fiscal issues to grow our economy out of the challenges we have.”
Obaseki added, “We should not panic too much because of foreign exchange; we must focus on how we can do things within our economy and grow our economy to earn more foreign exchange.
“Foreign exchange is our problem, but I believe that creating jobs for young people should be more of a priority for us as a people at this time.”
OsunDailyNG recalls that the CBN MPC raised the benchmark interest rate by 400 basis points to 22.75 per cent from 18.75 per cent.
With inflation at 29.90 per cent, the Governor of CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, mentioned that the latest MPR adjustment will address the country’s inflation rate.
