The scarcity of Naira notes has continued to bite harder on Nigerians despite the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announcement that the old N500 and N1,000 notes remained legal tender.
One week after the CBN directed banks to pay out and receive the old N500 and N1,000 notes, from the banking public, the scarcity persists as mammoth crowds besiege banks daily.
This is as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the CBN yesterday raised the country’s benchmark lending rate to 18 per cent from 17.5 per cent previously.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Mr Godwin Emefiele has said the nation’s banking sector is very sound and insulated from the effect of the recent failure of some banks in the United States of America and Switzerland.
This is as the MPC yesterday, increased the official interest rate by 50 basis point, in a consistent tightening policy measure to tame inflation in Nigeria. By the new increase in the monetary policy rate means that the CBN has capped official interest rate at 18 percent from 17.5 percent in January, 2023.