Nigeria Cuts Key Interest Rate to 26.5% After Months of Stabilization: CBN
Nigeria Cuts Key Interest Rate to 26.5% After Months of Stabilization: CBN
Nigeria’s Central Bank has reduced its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points, according to an official update published by the regulator.
The move comes after nearly ten months of holding rates at elevated levels. Since September 2025, when the bank first lowered the rate to 27%, policymakers kept borrowing costs unchanged while monitoring inflation and currency stability. As price pressures gradually eased and economic conditions began to stabilize, the central bank decided it had room to make another cut.
ℹ Nigeria’s fight against inflation intensified in early 2024. In February of that year, the central bank sharply raised the key rate to 22.75% from 18.75% — one of the largest single increases in recent years — in an effort to contain soaring consumer prices and stabilize the naira.
Rates were lifted further throughout 2024, eventually reaching 27.5% before the tightening cycle paused.
Since then, inflation has shown signs of moderating, allowing policymakers to begin easing cautiously.
The latest reduction to 26.5% signals that the central bank sees improving conditions.
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