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The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised interest rate benchmark in an aggressive tightening spree for the third time since Olayemi Cardoso took office as governor of the apex bank.

At the end of its two-day meeting on Tuesday, 12 members of the MPC voted to raise the MPR by 150 basis points to 26.25 per cent from 24.75 per cent, while leaving other policy parameters constant.

The committee’s decisions were based on Nigeria’s constantly rising headline inflation driven by food inflation. The nation’s statistics bureau recently released data that showed that the headline inflation grew by 23.69 per cent in April.

The CBN governor believed efforts made so far were producing the right results.

“The tools the central bank is using are working. These are things that need to take their own time. I am confident that we are beginning to get some relief. In another couple of time, we will get a more positive outcome,” Cardoso said.

He said the central bank has commenced dialogue with some investors on how to make the financial sector more robust and the market a lot more transparent, which he said would give them the added confidence to invest in the Nigerian market.