Concerns Mount Over CBN Interest Rate Hike Amid Hardship

Financial experts are not at ease with some of the economic policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
From fuel subsidy removal to Naira floating and the current Monetary policy rates hike from 18.5 per cent to 18.75 per cent, Nigerians groan amid the biting hardship.
For over six months, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee has continued to increase interest rates in a bid to tackle inflationary pressures, which stood at 22.79 per cent in June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The CBN acting Governor, Mr Folashodun Shonubi said the modest increase in the benchmark interest rate curtailed a potential uptick in inflationary pressures resulting from the policy changes.
But despite the apex banks’ efforts, the inflation pressures have remained unabated in the past six months.
From 16.50 per cent in December 2022, CBN had increased the interest rates to 18.75 per cent.
Stakeholders within the economic sector had not hidden their discontent with the number of policies by the Tinubu-led administration in the face of the hardship Nigerians face.
Nigeria’s organised private sector, OPS, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Assembly, NECA, described the recent hike in the Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, by CBN as a complete contradiction to Tinubu’s pledged commitment to make credit available to businesses and individuals at an affordable rate.
The Tide source recalls that Tinubu promised on May 29 during his presidential inaugural address that “monetary policy needs a thorough house cleaning. Interest rates need to be reduced to increase investment and consumer purchasing in ways that sustain the economy at a higher level.”
However, the turn of events have continued to threaten the already bleak hope in the minds of Nigerians.
Experts say one of the significant implications of interest rate hike is that businesses, especially Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, must pay more to access finances.
Accordingly, they urged the government to consider growth-focused interventions.
An accounting and financial development don at Lead City University, Ibadan, Prof Godwin Oyedokun, told newsmen in an interview last Monday that the decision of the government to hike interest rates does not make sense.
According to him, it is improper for the CBN to keep repeating the same thing that has failed over time and expect improved results.
He said what the government should do at this moment is to provide adequate infrastructure and stabilise the prices of goods and services with proper regulatory policies and other growth-driven interventions.