Nigeria: CBN Holds On to Forex Gains, Growth Expectations As MPC Meets

As the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) begins today, there are expectations that the policymakers will retain previous decisions to ensure deepening of effects.

The fourth meeting of the year is coming on the backdrop of recent happenings in the global and domestic space in the last two months, particularly remarkable improvement in domestic economic indices although against mixed signals from global front.

There are concerns that global growth expectations and receding populist threats though have calmed the global markets, but yet to translate into positives for commodity prices, like crude oil and bullion assets, which have under-performed since the turn of the year.

Specifically, oil prices, which benchmarks Nigeria's economic performance have been bearish since the last MPC meeting, with Brent crude declining from $54.13/per barrel on 23rd May to a six-month low of $44.80/per barrel in June before rebounding to US$48.84/ per barrel last week.

Source: The Guardian