The Central Bank of Nigeria has shifted the dates for its 299th Monetary Policy Committee meeting, initially slated for February 17 and 18, 2025.
According to a statement released on Monday, the meeting will now take place on February 19 and 20, 2025.
The statement read, “The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that the 299th meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee earlier scheduled for February 17 and 18, 2025, will now be held on Wednesday, February 19 and Thursday, February 20, 2025.”
This announcement puts an end to speculations about the meeting dates, which emerged due to a delay by the National Bureau of Statistics (in releasing the rebased Consumer Price Index.
Now that a new date has been confirmed, economic analysts are watching closely to see whether the committee will maintain or raise the Monetary Policy Rate in response to current economic realities.
The PUNCH noted that the first MPC meeting for 2025 was initially scheduled for January 27–28 but was later moved to February to allow the release of rebased inflation and GDP figures.
This is not the first time the CBN has rescheduled an MPC meeting under Governor Olayemi Cardoso.
Shortly after his appointment in September 2023, a similar postponement occurred as investors and analysts eagerly awaited his response to rising inflation.
The CBN’s first MPC meeting in 2024 took place on February 26 and 27, marking Cardoso’s debut in steering monetary policy decisions.
Monetary policy decisions are strongly guided by inflation trends. However, with the rebased CPI from the NBS yet to be published, concerns have grown about the availability of key economic data before the rescheduled MPC meeting.
Traditionally, the NBS releases its CPI report on the 15th of each month. If the agency sticks to this schedule, the inflation report may be available just three days before the newly confirmed meeting date.
