Inflation: CBN to raise lending rates again

• Buhari back from China, awaits V.P’s briefing on budget

• Experts laud China deal

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has indicated plans by the apex bank to raise interest rates in the country, following the recent spike in inflationary trends.

Emefiele revealed this in Washington after attending the International Monetary and Financial Control (IMFC) of the International Monetary Fund at the ongoing Spring Meeting of the IMF/World Bank meetings.

This year’s meeting has the theme: ‘Global Challenges, Global Solution’ and is attempting to provide solution to global economic crisis fueled by falling commodities prices.

According to Emefiele, another raise in interest rates has become inevitable because it does not make economic sense to hold down interest rates in the regime of rising inflationary trends.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari, who returned to Abuja from his working visit to China, yesterday, is awaiting briefing from Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, before signing into law the 2016 budget.

A Presidency source said, yesterday, that the President is expected to receive full briefing from the Vice President, who handled discussions on the budget, before a final decision to sign it into law is taken.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said: “The President just arrived this morning (yesterday), and he has to receive briefing from the Vice President, who handled budget matters, before a decision is taken.”

The Presidency and the National Assembly have been at loggerheads over passage of 2016 budget, following allegation by the Presidency that the lawmakers tinkered with the original bill.

Economic experts, yesterday, expressed satisfaction over gains of the recent visit to China by Buhari.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Economic Associates (EA), Dr. Ayo Teriba, described the bilateral economic agreements between the two countries as commendable, saying it would alter mode of payments in favour of the naira and Chinese yuan.

Former director, Center for Social and Economic Research, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Dr. Sanusi Abubakar, spoke in a similar vein, saying it is a step that ought to have been taken by the country long before now.

A professor of Economics at the Bayero University Kano, Dr. Murtala Sagagi, said it would increase the value of the naira, but cautioned that the country “cannot escape the influence of dollars” on its economy.

Inflation: CBN to raise lending rates again