Nigeria Cuts Benchmark Rate By 350 Basis Points To 23%

The Central Bank of Nigeria's Monetary Policy Committee cut its benchmark interest rate by 350 basis points to 23 percent from 26.5 percent at the conclusion of its two-day 307th meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, Governor Olayemi Cardoso announced. The reduction, announced by Cardoso at a briefing after the committee's deliberations, represents the largest single adjustment in years and follows two consecutive holds at 26.5 percent in May and July 2026. The MPC had previously trimmed the rate by 50 basis points in February 2026, bringing it down from 27 percent. Alongside the rate cut, the committee recalibrated the Standing Facilities Corridor to 50 and 300 basis points around the Monetary Policy Rate, placing the central bank's lending facility at 23.5 percent and its deposit facility at 20 percent. The MPC retained the Cash Reserve Requirement at 45 percent for deposit money banks, 16 percent for merchant banks, and 75 percent for non-Treasury Single Account public sector deposits. Cardoso described the decision as an operational realignment intended to strengthen the transmission of monetary policy across the economy.