The senate committee on banking, insurance, and other financial institutions, says the national assembly does not plan to transfer interest rate decisions from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to a committee.
Some reports have alleged that lawmakers want to strip the CBN of the decision to fix interest rates and assign the task to a team headed by the minister of finance.
In a statement on Friday, Uche Uwaleke, special adviser to the chairman, senate committee on banking, insurance, and other financial institutions, said the reports are false.
“My attention has been drawn to a misleading report currently circulating in the media that the National Assembly plans to transfer interest rate decisions from the CBN to a Committee to be chaired by the Minister of Finance,” Uwaleke said.
“This is completely untrue. The fact is that the amendment Bill proposes a Coordinating Committee as an institutional framework for the alignment of fiscal and monetary policies.”
The committee said its objective is neither to usurp the roles of the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the bank nor weaken the instrument independence of the CBN.
“For the avoidance of doubt, section 12 of the current Act establishes the Monetary Policy Committee, as well as stipulates its functions and composition. These provisions are all retained in the amendment Bill,” Uwaleke said.
Given the controversy the reports have generated, he said the senate committee has rescheduled the planned public hearing to allow for further consultations with and inputs from key stakeholders.
On May 28, the senate suspended a scheduled public hearing on the proposed bills seeking to amend the CBN and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Acts.
