Expert expect MPC to hold interest rate

Ahead of the 5th meeting of the Monetary Policy committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria slated for the 18th and 19th of this month, financial expert have predicted a hold of current rate by the committee.

Analyst at Afrinvest said: “As has been the case with all meetings held so far in 2017, we expect the committee members to maintain status quo on policy rates as they sit to deliberate on recent happenings in the global and domestic landscape next week. 

“However, we expect emphasis to be placed on the need to consolidate gains in the foreign xchange (FX) market whilst urging for more fiscal-monetary policy coordination to sustain recent improvements in domestic macroeconomic fundamentals.”

Since the last MPC meeting in July, the odds of a near term aggressive monetary policy tightening in advanced economies have slimmed considerably as officials of the US Fed, European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) softened hawkish rhetoric in response to economic disruption caused by natural disasters, heightening geological risk and increased uncertainty on Brexit negotiations.

Analyst at the  financial derivative  Company, (FDC), however thinks interest rates may decline marginally.

For Associate Professor Uche Uwalaka, the head of department of Economics at the Nassarawa state  university,  the committee will prefers to leave the interest rate unchanged especially as the campaigns are heating up, which could see increased liquidity in the system.