On May 20, 2026, the Central Bank of Nigeria left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 26.5 percent, pausing one of the most aggressive tightening cycles in the country’s history. The decision followed a cumulative 1,600-basis-point increase in the monetary policy rate between 2022 and 2024, before modest rate cuts in late 2025 and early 2026.
The pause raises a familiar question: why does Nigeria keep fighting the same inflation battle? For more than four decades, monetary policy has been repeatedly redesigned to deliver price stability, exchange-rate stability and economic growth. The frameworks have changed. The governors have changed. Yet inflation has survived every regime.
“Rather than build a stronger agricultural base, expand non-oil exports and create fiscal buffers, policymakers relied on controls to manage symptoms while the economy remained vulnerable.”
World Bank data show that inflation averaged about 16 percent between 1960 and 2024, peaking at 72.8 percent in
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