Foreign reserves have reached $ 43.05 billion, reduces the CRR for DMBS, 14 banks meet the new capital requirements

The Monetary Committee of the Nigeria Central Bank (CBN) (MPC) reduced the interest rate to 27 % from 27.5 percent in July.

The Apex bank has also stated that so far 14 banks have met the new regulatory capital requirements introduced at the beginning of this year.

Similarly, it has reduced the cash reserve report (CRR) for the 400 -basic storage banks (DMB) (BPS), the 45 % cash reserve requirement for commercial banks and 16 percent for merchant banks.

This is the first time in almost two years in which the CBN is cutting rates after several requests to do it after five months of disinflation.

Announcing the mpc decision, Tuesday, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso, After the end of the Committee’s Meeting in Abuja, Said the Bank Also Resolved to Adjust the Standing Facilities Corridor Around the Mpr to Plus or Minus 250 Basis Points, Raise the Cash Requirement (CRR) For Commercial Banks to 45% While Retaining That of Merchat Banks Acts at 16%, introduces 75% CRR on non-Treasury Single Account (TSA) public sector deposits and maintain the liquidity ratio at 30%.

The Governor of the CBN explained that the decision to reduce the political rate has been led by the detention supported in the last five months, provided for further inflation drops for the rest of 2025 and the need to support economic recovery.

He added that the adaptation of the corridor of the permanent structures was aimed at improving the efficiency of the interbank market and the improvement of the transmission of monetary policies.

He said: “The MPC expressed satisfaction with the prevalent macroeconomic stability highlighted by the improvements of different indicators. These include the sustained disinflation, the best growth of production, the stable exchange rate and the solid external reserves.

“In particular, the greatest impulse of disinflation in August 2025, being the highest in the last five months. This deceleration, supported by the strengthening of monetary policy, by the stability of the exchange rate, by the increase in capital affluits and by the surplus of coin-contract balance, has contributed to anchoring the inflation expectations widely.

“Other factors that have contributed to the deceleration include the continuous moderation in the price of the PMS and the remarkable increase in the production of crude oil.”

The CBN boss has also revealed that the country’s foreign reserves are now $ 43.05 billion in September 2025, compared to over $ 40 billion in August 2025.

“The gross external reserves remained robust at $ 43.05 billion on 11 September 2025, compared to $ 40.51 billion at the end of 2025 July with an import coverage of 8.28 months. In the same way, the balance of the current account of the third quarter recorded a significant surplus of $ 5.28 billion compared to $ 2.85 billion in Q1 2025”, he said.

Cardoso also revealed that about 14 banks had met the recapitalization requirements that entered into force in 2026.

In reviewing the new capital requirements, the Apex bank has increased that of international banks to N500 billion, the capital of national banks was collected at N2ria billion, while the regional banks had anchored their 50 billion dollars.

“In the financial sector, the MPC has noticed the continuous resilience of the banking system, with most of the financial solidity indicators that remain in their respective prudential benchmark.

“The members also recognized the significant progress in the current bank recapitalization exercise, since 14 banks fully satisfied the new capital requirement. Therefore they urged the bank to continue the implementation of policies and initiatives that would guarantee success with success of the operation of recapitization in progress,” he said.

… cutting rate experts

Commenting on the decision, an economist based in Lagos, dr. Olumide Ayola, observed that the cut “is symbolic rather than aggressive”.

“The CBN is trying to send a sign of growth support, but the economy is still fighting high food prices, the volatility of the exchange rate and structural bottlenecks. A larger rate cut would have risked feeding inflation further,” he said.

Likewise, the investment strategist, Funke Ojo, observed that the reduction could improve liquidity for commercial banks and encourage loans, but warned that “until inflationary pressure are facilitated, the benefit for the real sector will be marginal”.

From a tax point of view, analysts have stated that the adjustment of the rates could slightly reduce the government’s loan costs, given the strong dependence of Nigeria on internal debt tools.

However, they warned that without corresponding reforms in terms of energy, food production and change management, the only monetary policy cannot provide supported stability.

Market observers provide that the CBN maintains its cautious position in the coming months, with further rates adjustments that could depend on the inflation trends, the stability of oil prices and the naira performance in the change market.

“The MPC is walking by a thread of the wire. He has to support growth without feeding inflation, and this means that we should expect more incremental adjustments rather than political oscillations in bold,” added Ayola.