The Senate has commended the Central Bank of Nigeria for what it described as “encouraging developments” within the nation’s financial and monetary environment over the past six months.
Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja during a statutory engagement with CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Adetokunbo Abiru (APC, Lagos East), highlighted that recent economic data point to notable improvements in macro-economic stability.
“Since our last meeting in December 2024, inflation has begun to moderate—down to 22.97 per cent in May from 23.71 per cent in April—external reserves are inching up, and the exchange rate has stabilised with a much narrower gap between the official and parallel markets,” Abiru said.
He attributed these positive shifts to reform measures undertaken by the apex bank, such as the Foreign Exchange Matching System and FX Code, which he said were aimed at deepening market transparency and discipline.
The Senate also praised the Monetary Policy Committee for maintaining the Monetary Policy Rate at 27.5 per cent during its February and May meetings, describing the stance as a “deliberate pause” after the aggressive monetary tightening observed last year.
Lawmakers noted that these decisions have contributed to improved confidence in the foreign exchange market, citing the convergence between official and parallel rates as evidence of the effectiveness of the CBN’s recent interventions.
The committee further welcomed the central bank’s “limited but flexible” regulatory forbearance granted to Deposit Money Banks, saying this has helped ease transitional burdens as the banking sector embarks on a recapitalisation drive intended to support the government’s ambition of reaching a US $1 trillion GDP by 2030.
Additionally, the renewal of Nigeria’s bilateral currency-swap agreement with China was lauded for its role in diversifying external reserves and reducing overdependence on the US dollar.
The launch of the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number initiative was also singled out as a critical milestone. Lawmakers described it as a key step toward bolstering Know-Your-Customer standards and broadening access to formal banking services for Nigerians living abroad.
While recognising these gains, Senator Abiru stressed that more work remains to be done. “Other areas still require serious improvement,” he said, noting that these would be discussed further with the CBN governor in a closed-door session.
Earlier, CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso had briefed the committee on the bank’s recent policy achievements. He reiterated that the ongoing banking-sector recapitalisation efforts represent a “potent catalyst” for advancing the administration’s 2030 economic-growth vision.