THE Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, stated today during the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja that he and his team are not to blame for the current economic challenges in the country.
Despite the ongoing issues like inflation, food inflation, forex crisis, and economic hardship, Cardoso maintained that the CBN is actively working to restore the country’s fiscal and monetary well-being.
He highlighted non-monetary factors such as insecurity and infrastructure deficiencies as contributors to inflation and stressed the importance of fiscal policies in addressing these issues.
Cardoso refuted the notion that the CBN is responsible for the current economic situation, emphasizing that they are dedicated to finding solutions and restoring confidence in the economy.
“I laugh at that question but it’s not a laughing matter,” Cardoso retorted. “And I think it is very important for Nigerians to understand that the Central Bank Governor — I and my team — are not responsible for the woes that we have today; we are part of the solution.
“We are determined to ensure that we work hard to get out of the mess that Nigeria is in. We assumed responsibility in a time of crisis of confidence; there was a crisis of confidence and you may all want to go to bed and wish that crisis of confidence was not there but it was, and we can’t turn back the clock.
“All we can do is do the difficult things to make a bad situation better and I do believe that the efforts that we are making are beginning to bring back confidence because to be frank, without confidence in your business, you are not going to get far.”
Additionally, the MPC raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) 18.75 percent to 22.75 percent in an effort to combat inflation, which is currently at 29.90%.
Cardoso mentioned that inflation is primarily driven by factors like exchange rate pass-through, energy costs, fiscal deficits, and security challenges in food-producing regions.
The next MPC meeting is scheduled for March 25th and 26th, 2024.
Recall that Cardoso assumed leadership of the CBN following the suspension of Godwin Emefiele by President Bola Tinubu.
