The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee has retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.5% and kept all other parameters unchanged.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele made the announcement while addressing journalists on Monday after the second meeting of the year with the Committee in Abuja.

Emefiele explained that the move is to sustain growth recovery, despite the rise in inflation rate, which accelerated to 15.70 percent in February from 15.60 percent in January according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The MPR, which has remained unchanged for months, is a tool for regulating interest rates in the economy.

Lowering the rate could have stimulated more borrowing while raising the rate could have signaled the CBN’s intention to reduce the economy’s money supply.