The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, is set to unveil the Bank’s Monetary Policy Thrust and Economic Outlook for 2024 today by 5pm.
According to a short post made on the CBN official X handle, Dr. Cardoso will unveil the long awaited Monetary Policy Thrust and Economic Outlook for 2024 during the 58th CIBN Annual Bankers Dinner holding at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos where he is scheduled to be the Special Guest of Honour and Keynote Speaker.
The address will be the first public engagement by Cardoso since he was appointed CBN Governor by President Bola Tinubu over two months ago. The CBN has however made it clear that under him, the apex Bank will focus on achieving price stability and influencing supply of money and credit in the best possible way that will boost the economy. He also pledged that the CBN will no longer deploy monetary tools to tackle issues ordinarily meant to be tackled by fiscal policy tools.
In a move to implement this pledge, the CBN reversed restriction placed on the access of Forex through the CBN windows for importation of 43 items. This restriction was announced vide a CBN circular in 2015 at the backdrop of dwindling foreign reserves amid fall in Nigeria’s crude oil export earnings.
The CBN has not held the bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting – which is the highest policy-making committee of the apex bank – since he assumed office on September 15, 2023, with the last meeting holding on July 25. This is obviously to allow for extensive analysis and consideration of the prevailing economic dynamics with a view to charting a clear policy direction.
The MPC has as its mandate to: review economic and financial conditions in the economy; determine appropriate stance of policy in the short to medium term; review regularly, the CBN monetary policy framework and adopt changes when necessary; and communicate monetary/financial policy decisions effectively to the public and ensure the credibility of the model of transmission mechanism of monetary policy.
Members of the MPC are: The Governor of the Bank who is the Chairman, the four Deputy Governors of the CBN, two members of the Board of Directors of the CBN, three members appointed by the President, and two members appointed by the CBN Governor.
It is anticipated that the policy thrust of the CBN to be unveiled by the CBN Governor would revolve heavily around measures to stabilise the Naira by shoring up liquidity in the forex market as well as control rising inflation in the country. Experts are also eagerly waiting to see the measures Mr. Cardoso will roll out to streamline the foreign exchange market and reduce the distorting influence of the parallel market.
The event according to the CBN will be streamed live on the official YouTube channel of the apex bank (YouTube.com/cenbank) from 5:00 pm local time.