Small business owners have described the new Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, as unfortunate, and have said that it is capable of further contracting businesses.

They added that as businesses contract, firms will downsize, leading to loss of jobs.

Recall that yesterday the CBN raised the MPR by 50 basis points from 26.75% to 27.25%. The CBN governor, Mr OLAYEMI CARDOSO, disclosed this at the end of the 154th Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

The small business owners noted that the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS announced that Nigeria’s unemployment rate grew by 1.2 percentage points to 5.3 per cent year-on-year, hence, the need to raise an alarm about the days ahead.