Nigeria's central bank raises benchmark rate to 24.75%

Nigeria's central bank raised its monetary policy rate to 24.75% from 22.75% , its governor Olayemi Cardoso said on Tuesday.

The decision by the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was the second since Cardoso took office last September. At an MPC meeting last month the Central Bank of Nigeria delivered its largest rate hike in around 17 years to try to get price pressures under control.

Inflation is above 30% in annual terms, its highest in almost three decades, leaving millions of people in Africa's biggest economy and most populous nation struggling to meet their basic needs.