The Central Bank of Nigeria held the Monetary Policy Rate at 27.5%, pausing a tightening cycle after headline inflation eased to 29.8% year-on-year.
The Monetary Policy Committee framed the decision as a balancing act. Disinflation has begun, but the committee judged the trend insufficiently established to justify easing, and flagged residual pressure in food prices and in the pass-through from energy costs.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy components, has proved stickier than the headline figure. That divergence is the committee's principal concern and the strongest argument for holding rather than cutting.
For equities, a hold is a mixed outcome. Banks retain the wide margins that elevated rates deliver, while rate-sensitive sectors — consumer goods, construction, anything carrying leverage — continue to face an expensive cost of capital.
Fixed income continues to offer a real return that competes directly with dividend yields on the Exchange. Until that changes, the equity market is bidding against an attractive risk-free alternative.
The committee gave no forward guidance on the timing of a first cut, and the statement's language leaves the next decision genuinely open.