The presidential candidate of the Labour party in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has noted that the recent decision of the Monetary Policy Committee to increase the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) will further worsen the economic situation of most Nigerian households.
Obi disclosed this in a lengthy post shared on his X handle on Thursday, February 29.
The post reads in part: “Let me confess that the label of being a vintage Onitsha-based trader does not in any way confer on me the status of an economic expert. With my vast trading knowledge and my involvement in the real sector,I am of the strong opinion that the recent decision of the Monetary Policy Committee to increase the Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, to 22.5% and the Cash Reserve Ratio, CRR, to 45% will further worsen the economic situation of most Nigerian households as it is bound toause more job losses in the productive sector, especially manufacturing and other sectors that rely on bank loans and credit facilities for their funding needs. Tightening liquidity in the financial system does not improve productivity, i.e food production, which is the major cause of inflation in Nigeria. Moreover, only about 12% of N3.6 trillion of the total money in circulation is in the banking system which means that 88%, about N3.2 trillion is outside the banking system.
“So, this measure would rather be counterproductive as it would not address the intended purpose of managing the money supply. These new measures will worsen the fragile economy as the supply of funds would dry up for the real sector, and the new MPR rate hike will push the interest rate on loans to above 30%, which would be very difficult for the real sector operators especially manufacturers and SMEs to repay; resulting, obviously, in increased bad loans, and worsening the nation’s economic situation.”
Source: X | PeterObi
