CIFAN Lauds CBN Over CRR, Okays Move As `Proactive’

The National Co-operative Financing Agency of Nigeria (CFAN) has described as a bold and laudable move for the economy recent Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) increment by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

Executive Secretary of CFAN, Mr Emmanuel Atama, said the decision was a control measure to check inflation in the country.

Atama told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday that the apex bank usually used her instrument to create a balance in the economy.

“Those are control measures. It was identified that there were excess liquid in the economy and when there is excess liquid, the CBN always uses her instruments to create a balance.

“We know that when there is too much money in the economy, it encourages inflation and you can see that inflation rate has also gone up.

“I think the CBN is just being proactive in getting things done,’’ he explained.

The CIFAN boss said the implication of the decision would be that banks would have less money to lend to businesses.

According to him, you will discover that little will be left at their disposal to lend especially now that banks are not even lending to people.

“The implication for the common man is that banks will not have enough money for people to access to do their businesses,’’.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, had announced on January 24 that the MPC increased banks’ CRR from 22.5 per cent to 27.5 per cent.

CRR is the share of a bank’s total deposit that is mandated by the CBN to be maintained with the latter in the form of liquid cash. It ensures that part of the bank’s deposit is with the apex Bank and is hence, secure. – NAN