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UPDATE 1-Nigerian central bank holds benchmark lending rate at 11.5%

Published 24/11/2020, 15:00
© Reuters.

(Adds details, quote)
LAGOS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Nigeria's central bank held its
benchmark lending rate at 11.5% on Tuesday, its governor Godwin
Emefiele said.
Prior to Tuesday's meeting, the last of 2020, the bank had
cut the rate on two occasions this year - both by 100 basis
points. The cuts were in May and then in September, when the
rate was lowered to the current level.
Emefiele said all 10 members of the monetary policy
committee had voted to stick to the rate. "Members voted in line
with the most pressing need towards reversing the recession and
achieving medium-term macroeconomic stability," he added.
Africa's biggest economy has fallen into its second
recession in four years, gross domestic product figures for the
third quarter published on Saturday showed, with the COVID-19
pandemic and low oil prices taking their toll. Emefiele also said the bank was "cautiously optimistic" of
positive growth in the fourth quarter of the year and expected
the country to come out of the recession in the first quarter of
2021.
Nigeria, the continent's top oil exporter which relies on
crude sales for 90% of foreign-exchange earnings, was last in
recession in 2016. It emerged the following year, but growth has
remained fragile since then.
The central bank has said it aims to maintain inflation
within a target range of 6% to 9%.
But annual inflation rose in October for the 14th successive
month to a more than two-year high of 14.23% as protests against
police brutality blocked streets nationwide, compounding supply
chain problems related to the pandemic.

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