Business

CBN’s Cardoso Assures Nigeria ‘ll Get Out of Economic Woes

Published

2 years ago

February 19, 2024

404 Views

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has expressed optimism that despite all the difficulties, there is light at the end of the tunnel, “As long as the country can sustain a positive trajectory, Nigeria will get out of its economic woes and the foreign exchange market will begin to moderate itself.”

Csrdoso expressed this conviction during the opening ceremony of the 2024 First Plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) with the theme, “Synod on Synodality: Areas of Concern for the Church in Nigeria.”

The banker blamed the high inflation rate in the country on so much liquidity in the market, and noted that as a result of some of the recent efforts of the CBN, over the course of the last week, about $1.8 billion came into the markets.

The CBN Governor said that in another week, the Apex Bank will have the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, where very critical decisions will be made to continue making the economy more investor-friendly.

He also said that an attempt to merge the outside rates with the official rates and the black market rate has been made, and that the difference between the two is now significantly lower.

Cardoso said, “There is a positive outlook on that. The positive outlook comes from the fact that a series of reforms have been made by the Federal Government and the Central Bank, which are now paying off in such a way that international investors are coming back in again.”

The President of CBCN, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, said the country is experiencing the worst times, especially in the areas of security and the economy during the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

He stated that the reform agenda of the Federal Government has worsened the plight of Nigerians, with the withdrawal of fuel subsidies and the unification of the foreign exchange market, leading to a sharp increase in the pump price of petroleum products and a steep decline in the value of the Naira.

He said as the government demands additional sacrifice from the struggling masses, there should be a drastic cut in the cost of governance at all levels, adding that on the contrary, top government officials live by the sweat, toil and tears of the poor as they continue spending huge public funds on ostentatious and luxurious lifestyles and seem incapable of feeling compassion for the poor.

Every day, outrageous and spine-chilling stories are told in the media about different public servants who have stolen staggering amounts of money from public coffers in a country where millions of citizens live in deep and debilitating poverty.

“We cannot easily overlook the sordid roles of many fraudulent politicians and Bank Executives in fleecing the whole nation and destroying our national economy through the dirty game of corruption, causing untold hardship and untimely deaths across the nation,” said Archbishop Ugorji.

Business

Cardoso Urges Banks To Lend Out Idle Funds With CBN * Retains MPR at 26.5%

Cardoso made the call on Tuesday after the 306th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja from July 20 to July 21.

Published

9 hours ago

July 21, 2026

OCHEFA

23 Views

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Olayemi Cardoso , urged banks from keeping idle funds with the apex bank and encouraging increased lending into the economy.

Cardoso made the call on Tuesday after the 306th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja from July 20 to July 21.

The apex bank retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), also known as benchmark interest rate, at 26. 5 percent.

This decision marks the second consecutive retention of the MPR at 26.5 per cent, following a 50-basis-point reduction in February from 27 per cent.

“The committee’s decision to maintain the current policy stand follows a thorough assessment of the balance of risk,” said Cardoso.

He emphasised that although headline inflation moderated marginally in June 2026, global uncertainties have heightened due mainly to the renewed hostilities in the Middle East.

The MPC also adjusted the asymmetric facilities corridor around the MPR to +50/-450 basis points—a move aimed at discouraging banks from keeping idle fund with CBN.

Furthermore, the committee maintained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks at 45 per cent, retained the rate for merchant banks at 16 per cent, and kept the CRR on non-TSA public-sector deposits at 75 per cent for liquidity management considerations.

Cardoso said despite the global uncertainties, the Nigerian economy has “remained largely resilient to the external shocks”.

Business

CBN admits it opened domiciliary accounts for PFIPC agency

Represented by the Director of its Banking Services Department, Hamisu Ibrahim, the CBN said that the accounts are one in US dollars, the other in British pounds sterling, were opened following a mandate received from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Published

18 hours ago

July 21, 2026

OCHEFA

21 Views

File photo : PFIPC agency DG, Adeniyi Adeyemi

The Central Bank of Nigeria had admitted that it opened two foreign-currency domiciliary accounts for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).

The apex bank made the confirmation, yesterday, during the public hearing convened at the National Assembly Complex by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the existence and operations of the PFIPC, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi and inaugurated by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.

He explained that on July 30, 2025, CBN received a mandate dated July 29, 2025 from the Office of the Accountant-General.

“We received the mandate to authorise two accounts, one a US dollar domiciliary account, the other a pound domiciliary account, for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council,” Ibrahim told the committee.

He explained the CBN’s verification process, “The process of opening an account requires a mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

“Once we receive that mandate, we perform all the necessary verifications to confirm that this mandate is actually coming from that office.

The department that handles the mandate is different from the department that actually does the account opening,” he said.

Nevertheless, he noted that no one came to activate the accounts after they were opened.“We did not receive any correspondence, mandate, signature or mandate cards. We were not introduced to the authorising or approving officers.“Based on that, those accounts remain inactive, with zero balance. There have been no foreign exchange allocations.