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At the end of its 259th meeting today, the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to retain its policy rates.

The committee decided to leave Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 14.0%; Asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +200/-500bps; Cash Reserves Ratio (CRR) at 22.5%; and Liquidity Ratio (LR) at 30.0%.

The committee considered developments in the global economy since its last meeting, including expectation of improvement in global output growth, tepid global inflation momentum, and continued accommodative monetary policy in developed economies in support of recovery and growth.

On the domestic front, the MPC considered the second consecutive quarter of positive growth in Nigeria’s GDP by 1.40% in Q3, following 0.72% real GDP growth in Q2. Also, the committee factor the downward trending of domestic headline inflation rate, which climbed down slowly to 15.91% in October from 15.98% in September. The relative improvement in the forex space, amid continued healthy accretion to the nation's foreign reserves, which is heralding stability of the average naira exchange rate across various segments of the market, was also considered.

The MPC members were faced with the choices of maintaining status quo, tightening, or easing monetary policy. Amid strong arguments for the three positions, the choice to support growth without jeopardizing recent gains around price stability -- particularly exchange rate -- culminated in a decision (8 votes to 1) to hold policy rates constant, while allowing for policy flexibility as developments unfold in the macroeconomic space.