Again, CBN Retains Monetary Policy Rate At 26.5%

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja

Olayemi Cardoso

For the second consecutive time, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has retained the Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, also known as benchmark interest rate, at 26. 5 per cent

CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso disclosed this on Tuesday shortly after the 306^th Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, meeting in Abuja.

He said: “The Committee decided as follows: retain the monetary policy rate at 26.5 per cent.

“The committee’s decision to maintain the current policy stand follows a thorough assessment of the balance of risk. Although headline inflation moderated marginally in June 2026, global uncertainties have heightened due mainly to the renewed hostilities in the Middle East.”

In May this year, the apex bank pegged the interest rate at 26. 5 per cent and retained all standing facilities around the MPR corridor.

The Bank’s latest decision to retain the interest rate followed the previous MPC briefing, and a 50-basis-point cut announced in February 2026, irrespective of a marginal decrease in the inflation rate.

A recent Consumer Price Index, CPI, report released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, indicated that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped to 15.91 per cent in June 2026, down from 15.93 per cent recorded in May of 2026.

The decline marked the first drop in the country’s headline inflation rate in three months.

On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate stood at 1.66% in June 2026, approximately 0.09 percentage points lower than the 1.75% recorded in the previous month of May.

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