After Criticisms, CBN Set To Unveil MPC Direction, 2024 Economic Outlook

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that it will unveil its Monetary Policy Thrust and Economic Outlook for 2024 on Friday, November 24, 2023.

The bank announced this on Thursday in a post on X seen by THE WHISTLER.

The development is coming after the apex bank faced criticsm for postponing the November MPC scheduled for 20th to 21st November, 2023.

The CBN said, “The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, to unveil the Bank’s Monetary Policy Thrust and Economic Outlook for 2024.”

Since Cardoso took over office, the CBN has skipped the MPC twice. The first was in September and the recent MPC which was supposed to hold in November.

According to the bank, Cardoso will unveil the policies while speaking as a keynote speaker at the 58th CIBN Annual Banker’s Dinner.

Experts who spoke to THE WHISTLER had said the postponement of the MPC may send a wrong signal to investors.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises, Muda Yusuf had said, “MPC meetings are statutory in nature and also a major source of information on monetary policy direction. The outcomes are critical for investment decisions domestically and externally.

“The CBN must have some good reasons for the postponement. Perhaps it is because we have a new dispensation in the CBN where the entire top hierarchy is new. The CBN governor and his four deputies are all new.

“Nonetheless, the postponement ought to be properly communicated to investors within and outside our shores.

“Otherwise, uncertainty and risks in the economy would be further aggravated. Outcomes of MPC meetings bring clarity to the direction of monetary policy and many economic players expectedly look forward to it.”