Central Bank of Nigeria Holds Policy Rate at 26.5%

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 26.5% in July 2026, judging that a cautious stance remained appropriate as headline inflation eased only marginally while global uncertainty intensified with renewed hostilities in the Middle East; after holding at 27.5% in July 2025, the CBN cut by 50 basis points to 27.0% in September 2025 and by a further 50 basis points to 26.5% in February 2026, then kept the rate unchanged in May and July 2026. The CBN also left the standing facilities corridor at +50/-450 basis points around the MPR and kept the cash reserve requirement at 45.00% for Deposit Money Banks, 16.00% for Merchant Banks and 75.00% for non-TSA public sector deposits. Headline inflation edged down to 15.91% in June 2026 from 15.93% in May as lower non-food inflation offset higher food inflation, while real GDP growth slowed to 3.89% in the first quarter of 2026 from 4.07% in the preceding period and the composite Purchasing Managers Index improved to 50.1 in June from 49.6 in May. Gross external reserves rose to USD52.52 billion as of July 17, enough to cover about 11 months of goods and services imports. The committee said global growth is expected to slow to 3.0% in 2026 from 3.5% in 2025, with upside risks to inflation from higher crude oil and other commodity prices, supply chain disruptions and climate-related shocks, and it reaffirmed readiness to take appropriate policy measures as macroeconomic conditions e