- The Central Bank of Nigeria has rescheduled the February Monetary Policy Committee meeting
- The first meeting of the MPC for 2025 has been rescheduled twice
- The meeting was rescheduled due to the delay in the release of the rebased Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the National Bureau of Statistics
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has rescheduled the 299th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting earlier slated for February 17 and 18, 2025.
According to a statement on Monday, February 10, the CBN said the meeting will now be held on February 19 and 20, 2025.
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.”
It noted that the announcement puts to rest speculations about the meeting date due to the delays in the release of the rebased Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The announcement also has economic analysts keenly observing if the committee will retain or increase the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) in response to prevailing economic conditions.
The first 2025 MPC meeting was postponed twice
The change in the date for the February MPC meeting marks the second time the committee’s first meeting for 2025 has been rescheduled.
The first MPC meeting for 2025 was initially set for January 27 and 28 but was moved to February to allow time for the rebased inflation and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures to be released by the NBS.
However, the NBS has continued to delay the release of the report, which it said would be released by the end of January.
The NBS typically releases its CPI report on the 15th of every month. Going by this, the inflation report could be published just two days before the previously scheduled MPC meeting on February 17 and 18, allowing little time for the MPC to analyse the data before making policy decisions.
The MPC often analyses and depends on inflationary trends in making monetary policy decisions, as seen in 2024 where the committee maintained a tight monetary stance aimed at curbing inflation.
The committee increased the MPR six times in 2024, from 18.75 per cent in January 2024 to 27.50 per cent in November, representing an 8.75 per cent increase within the year.
Cardoso-led CBN postponed two MPC meetings in 2023
The CBN under Olayemi Cardoso is not new to postponing its MPC meetings.
After Cardoso’s appointment in September 2023, the CBN postponed its September and November 2024 meetings, which left investors in limbo as to the apex bank’s monetary stance.
The CBN later held its first MPC meeting of 2024 on February 26th and 27th, the first under Cardoso’s leadership.
NBS’ GDP and CPI rebasing plan
In October 2024, the NBS announced plans to rebase the GDP data and the CPI to ensure the economy is streamlined according to changing economic realities and make for structural changes.
The bureau selected 2019 as the new base year because of the year’s status as a period of “relative economic stability” compared to other recent years, which witnessed significant economic headwinds.
NBS further stated that 2019 was chosen because “other sector-specific administrative data for this period were collected.”
The GDP rebasing exercise shows the diversified and dynamic economic landscape, the reduced dependence of the Nigerian economy on crude petroleum and natural gas, as was previously the case, and the recognition of the increasing contribution of non-oil sectors, such as the real estate sector, to the economy.
The exercise includes data from new and previously underreported economic activities. It includes activities like digital economic activities, modular refineries, pension fund administrators, domestic households as employers of labour, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), quarrying and other mining activities, Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), and illegal and hidden activities.
CBN’s policy interventions kept inflation at bay in 2024 – Cardoso
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, said the apex bank’s policy interventions helped keep inflation at bay in 2024.
Cardoso said counterfactual estimates suggest that inflation could have surged to 42.81 per cent by December 2024 without the CBN’s policy interventions.
