*Blames economic woes on delayed passage of budget
By James Emejo in Abuja
Citing limited options in an already tight fiscal regime and the need to allow previous monetary policy decisions to crystalise, among others, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday resolved to leave the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), otherwise known as interest rate, unchanged at 12 percent.
It further retained the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) of banks at 22.5 percent as well as the Liquidity Ratio at 30 percent.
The MPR is the rate at which the apex bank lends to commercial banks and often determined the cost of funds.
The CBN also blamed the current downturn in the economy on the delay in passage the 2016 budget into law.
Details later…..
