The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, is set to step up its intervention in the energy sector as it approaches the regulators in the sector on modalities for the intervention.
Disclosing this at a media briefing yesterday after its Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, meeting the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said the apex bank would be meeting with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Federal Ministry of Power in the first instance for this purpose.
Meanwhile, he announced the retention of the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.5 per cent along with all parameters as the key MPC decision at the meeting.
The decision to intervene in the current scarcity of petroleum products and power outages throughout the country, according to Emefiele, follows the concerns of the MPC on the impact of inadequate electricity on domestic prices.
He said: “MPC also notes that the rising price of diesel is compounded by the problem of inadequate electricity supply which has adversely impacted domestic prices. MPC advises the CBN Management and the fiscal authorities to take specific and urgent actions to avoid many power generating stations shutdown for turn-around maintenance, resulting in the current unwarranted shutdown of generating assets.
Speaking further, Emefiele said that the apex bank has invested heavily in the power sector and stood ready to do more for Nigeria to have stable power supply, adding that the engagement with the power sector authorities would be to provide whatever support was needed.
His words, “The CBN has always been there to support the power sector. Like you all know, we have disbursed over N1.3 trillion in the last five years, to support the generators (electricity), the Discos, to acquire equipment or to buy meters, improve what is being paid to electricity generating companies to pay for their gas, so that the system can continue to operate.
“We will be engaging with the Minister of Power, NERC (Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission) and NBET (Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company) to see whatever we can do to support them.”
Emefiele also said that his team was determined to improve CBN’s interventions in order to increase food production and grow the economy through various investments in other real sectors of the economy.
-Vanguard
