Nigeria Central Bank Seen Pausing Aggressive Rate-Hike Campaign.

Nigeria’s central bank will probably hold interest rates steady later on Thursday, pausing an aggressive tightening cycle after inflation slowed sharply following a revision to how the data is calculated.

Seven of nine economists polled by Bloomberg forecast that policymakers would keep rates unchanged at 27.5% after digesting a decline in annual inflation in January inflation to 24.5%. That compares with 34.8% in December calculated by the old method.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has raised rates by a cumulative 16 percentage points since 2022 to cool decades-high inflation and steady the naira, which has depreciated 70% against the dollar following currency reforms in 2023.

The tightening campaign, which picked up pace when Governor Olayemi Cardoso took office in September 2023, is beginning to yield results, with the currency trading at a narrow range between 1,470 and 1,550 per dollar since early December.

Source: FINANCE.YAHOO