Emefiele told journalists after the two-day meeting of the committee on Tuesday in Abuja that the 11 members of the committee that attended the meeting agreed to retain all the monetary policy parameters.
He added that the Cash Reserves Ratio was retained at 22.5 percent, while the Liquidity Ratio, was left at 30 percent and the Asymmetric Window was left at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR.
Emefiele disclosed that the committee noted that while the real Gross Domestic Product grew by 1.81 percent during the third quarter of 2018, the persistence of herdsmen attacks on farmers, cattle rustling and flooding in parts of the country affected agricultural and livestock output.
He noted that in view of this, the output for growth remained fragile as the late implementation of the 2018 budget and the residual impact of flooding and security challenges constituted headwinds to growth.
According to him, to address the fragile economic outlook, the the committee was of the view that effective implementation of the 2018 capital budget and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan would stimulate economic activities.
He also added that there was a need for improvements in the security situation in the country as well as continued stability in the foreign exchange market to enhance aggregate demand and growth.
“The committee observed that the near term risk to inflation remain the impact of flooding on agricultural output, insecurity on food producing belts in the country, exchange rate pass through to inflation due to the weakening of oil price and campaign-related spending towards the 2019 general elections.
“Accordingly, the Monetary Policy Committee called on the Federal Government to sustain its efforts towards improving security to ease supply chain bottlenecks.
“The committee recommended that the Federal Government should focus investment on infrastructure and urge the Federal Government to sustain the pace towards addressing infrastructure deficit in Nigeria.
“It noted that the immediate impact of this on the GDP will be slow in coming but it will expand the economy, reduce unemployment and increase aggregate demand in a more sustainable manner,” he said.