Following the appointment of a new board of governors chaired by Yemi Cardoso, a Citi Bank veteran, and the resignations of the four previous deputy governors, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s monetary policy meeting scheduled for today was postponed indefinitely. The transition came at a very critical time for the economy and the CBN. Since the exchange rate reforms of June 14th, the Naira exchange rate to the US dollar has weakened by about another 25% on top of the 40% devaluation when it moved from N460 to the $ to N750. Meanwhile, the previous board had pursued very rigorous monetary policy orthodoxy to combat inflation. In its last meeting, the monetary policy rate was raised to 18.5%.
