Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said in a press conference following the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja yesterday that the apex bank is aware of the restrictions on cash withdrawals with frequent outages in bank transaction channels and he urged online payment platforms to urgently and quickly overcome the challenges in the interests of the banking public.
Most banks in the nation were still short on cash as of yesterday, and internet payment platforms were having seizures when it came to processing payments.
Emefiele stated that the implementation of the overall Naira redesign strategy “has led to the reduction in currency outside the banks, indicating predicted improvement in the effectiveness of monetary policy tools.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has acknowledged shortcomings in the online payment systems that have angered bank clients over the past two months despite the ongoing cash shortage caused by the Naira redesign policy.
In the meantime, the apex bank increased its monetary policy rate, or MPR, by 50 basis points to 18% from 17.5% to reduce inflationary pressures. This is the fifth consecutive increase in the past nine months.
Speaking further on the economic inflationary pressures, Emefiele said that the scheduled elimination of the gasoline subsidy could worsen the trend in the months to come, further supporting a tightening stance.
