Following the hike in Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to expand its targeted intervention schemes to support the productive sectors of the economy to reduce the cost of production. The Director-General, Dr. Chinyere Almona, who made the statement recently, noted that beyond the role of price stability, the CBN must pay attention to sustaining economic growth that can create jobs and boost government revenues. Again, we reiterate that hikes in rates alone will not tackle the near-galloping inflation trend in Nigeria. We need interventions to boost the supply of goods and services, build critical supportive infrastructure and resolve the illiquidity crisis in the forex market.” Noting that the increase was meant to control the rising inflation rate feared to assume a galloping trend soon, Almona explained that the CBN has always maintained that the high inflation rate was due to non-monetary factors outside its purview.
