CBN Postpones MPC Meeting Over NBS Delay In Releasing Rebased Inflation Report

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it has shifted the date for its first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for 2025 due to a delay in releasing the rebased Consumer Price Index (CPI) by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The MPC meeting is chaired by the apex bank’s governor, Olayemi Cardoso and convened to decide Monetary Policy Rates among other policies of the apex bank.

The CBN disclosed on Monday in a notice seen by THE WHISTLER that the new dates are Wednesday, February 18 and Thursday, February 19, 2025.

Formerly, the first MPC for the year was scheduled to hold on February 17 and 18, 2025.

CBN said it has “Announced that the 299th meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) earlier scheduled for February 17 and 18, 2025, will now be held on Wednesday, February 18 and Thursday, February 19, 2025.

“The announcement puts paid to speculations around the date of the meetings amidst delays by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to release the rebased Consumer Price Index (CPI).

“With a date now fixed, the attention of economic watchers is focused on the CBN’s MPC to ascertain if there will be a hold or hike in the monetary policy rate (MPR), going by current trends.”

The NBS is rebasing the country’s GDP and CPI. The year 2019 has been chosen as the new base year, replacing the previous base year of 2010, while 2024 is set as the new base year for the CPI.

NBS said the rebasing aims to align economic statistics with current realities and account for structural changes in Nigeria’s economy.

NBS in January 2025 said it would release the rebased CPI by month’s end. However, the NBS has not released the CPI report as of the time of filing the report.

CBN Postpones MPC Meeting Over NBS Delay In Releasing Rebased Inflation Report is first published on The Whistler Newspaper