Monetary policy and adverse external, domestic conditions

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been facing the uphill task of management of the economy in a period of persistent uncertainty in the global economy, stemming from economic and socio-political developments around the world.

The committee met Monetary Policy Committee met on the 20th and 21st of March, 2017, to review its stands on the economic variables, on the domestic front, while the Q4 2016 GDP figure was better than the last two consecutive quarters, the economy remained in recession with inflationary pressures continuing unabated. These adverse external and domestic conditions continued to complicate the policy environment.

The Committee assessed the global and domestic economic and financial environments in Q1 2017 as well as the outlook for the medium-term. External Developments The global economy witnessed greater momentum in Q4 2016, facilitated by gains in both developed, emerging markets and developing economies which propelled global GDP growth to 2.7 per cent year-on-year in Q4, 2016, a 0.2 percentage point improvement over Q3 2016.

In spite of this improvement, the external environment continued to be plagued by political, economic and financial market uncertainties, with the defining issues being: Brexit, growing protectionist and anti-globalization sentiments, divergent monetary policies of the advanced economies’ central banks and volatile commodity price movements.

On outlook for financial stability, the Committee noted that the banking sector was becoming less resilient as a result of the adverse macroeconomic environment. Nevertheless, the MPC reiterated its resolve to continue to pursue financial system stability. To this end, the Committee enjoined the Management of the Bank to work with DMBs to promptly address rising NPLs, declining asset quality, credit concentration and high foreign exchange exposures.

The Committee also noted the benefits of loosening at this time which will be in line with the needs of fiscal policy to restart growth. The MPC, however, noted that loosening would exacerbate inflationary pressures, worsen the exchange rate and further pull the real interest rate into negative territory.

Since interest rates are sticky downwards, loosening may not necessarily transmit into lower retail lending rates. The Committee noted the consecutive positive contribution of agriculture to GDP in Q4 2016, a development partly traceable to the Bank’s interventions in the sector. The Committee remains optimistic that, if properly implemented, the newly released Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) coupled with innovative, growth-stimulating sectoral policies would help fast track economic recovery.

The Committee’s decisions

The Committee, in consideration of the headwinds in the domestic economy and the uncertainties in the global environment, decided to retain the MPR at 14 per cent; the CRR at 22.5 per cent; the Liquidity Ratio at 30.00 per cent; and the Asymmetric corridor at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR.

The Committee also noted the increase in the target range of the US Fed funds rate at the last meeting of the FOMC and the potential spillover effects on global capital flows and interest rates, especially given the still tepid global economic activity and weak demand.

“Challenges in the emerging markets and developing economies persist, as they struggle with strong headwinds from low commodity prices, rising inflation, currency volatility, receding real income and capital reversals. Overall, the Committee noted the dampening effects of economic stagnation and uncertainty on global trade and investment,” said Godwin Emefiele Governor, CBN.

In spite of these constraints, however, he said that the IMF estimates that the global economy would witness a slight improvement in growth from 3.1 per cent in 2016 to 3.4 per cent in 2017.

“Global inflation continued its moderate but steady rise against the backdrop of improved oil prices and depreciated currencies in several emerging markets,” he said.

The committee opined that the protectionist stance of the new U.S. administration could impact negatively on global trade and economic recovery, adding that the slip in oil prices against the backdrop of fears of a supply glut, fuelled by increased activities in US Shale oil production, which threatens to undermine the rebalancing effects of the last OPEC decision to cut output.

The Committee also noted the increase in the target range of the US Fed funds rate at the last meeting of the FOMC and the potential spillover effects on global capital flows and interest rates, especially given the still tepid global economic activity and weak demand. Challenges in the emerging markets and developing economies persist, as they struggle with strong headwinds from low commodity prices, rising inflation, currency volatility, receding real income and capital reversals.

Overall, the Committee noted the dampening effects of economic stagnation and uncertainty on global trade and investment. In spite of these constraints, however, the IMF estimates that the global economy would witness a slight improvement in growth from 3.1 per cent in 2016 to 3.4 per cent in 2017.

Global inflation continued its moderate but steady rise against the backdrop of improved oil prices and depreciated currencies in several emerging markets. On the domestic front, while the Q4 2016 GDP figure was better than the last two consecutive quarters, the economy remained in recession with inflationary pressures continuing unabated. These adverse external and domestic conditions continued to complicate the policy environment.

The Committee assessed the global and domestic economic and financial environments in Q1 2017 as well as the outlook for the medium-term.

External Developments The global economy witnessed greater momentum in Q4 2016, facilitated by gains in both developed, emerging markets and developing economies which propelled global GDP growth to 2.7 per cent year-on-year in Q4, 2016, a 0.2 percentage point improvement over Q3 2016. In spite of this improvement, the external environment continued to be plagued by political, economic and financial market uncertainties, with the defining issues being: Brexit, growing protectionist and anti-globalization sentiments, divergent monetary policies of the advanced economies’ central banks and volatile commodity price movements. The protectionist stance of the new U.S. administration could impact negatively on global trade and economic recovery.

The Federal Reserve again raised its benchmark Federal Fund rate by 25 basis points in March 2017, to a range of 0.75 to 1.00 per cent, having raised rates by the same margin in December, 2016, and also provided indication of further rate hikes in 2017 Domestic Output Developments Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in February 2017 showed that the economy contracted marginally by 1.30 per cent in Q4 2016, effectively remaining in recession since Q2 2016.

Overall, in 2016, the economy contracted by 1.51 per cent, with the contraction in Q4 being the least since Q2 2016.

The non-oil sector grew by 0.33 per cent in Q4, largely reflecting the slowdown in the agricultural sector, which decelerated to 4. 03 per cent in Q4 2016 from the 4.54 per cent recorded in Q3 2016.

The Committee remains of the conviction that fiscal policy remained the most potent panacea to most of the key negative undercurrents i.e. stunted economic activity, heightened unemployment and high inflation. In spite of the recent moderate recovery in oil prices, the Committee approached developments in commodity prices cautiously. It noted that the era of high oil prices was over, thus making diversification away from oil more imperative today than ever.

Looking at the developments in Money and Prices, the committee noted that money supply (M2) contracted by 5.73 per cent in February 2017, annualized at -34.38 per cent in contrast to the provisional growth benchmark of 10.29 per cent for 2017.

Similarly, Net Domestic Credit (NDC) contracted by 1.41 per cent in February, 2017, annualized to 8.46 per cent, being significantly below the 17.93 per cent provisional growth benchmark for 2017.

Likewise, net credit to government contracted at an annualized rate of 49.74 per cent, representing 82.86 per cent below its programmed target of 33.12 per cent. In effect, all the major monetary aggregates contracted by end-February and underperformed their programmed provisional benchmarks for fiscal 2017.