Nigeria

Nigeria’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 11 percent on Tuesday and left the naira exchange rate fixed despite a dive on the parallel market.

Nigeria's central bank cut its Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 200 basis points to 11.0 percent and the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) by 500 basis points to 20.0 percent in light of "the weakening fundamentals of the economy, particularly the low output growth, rising unemployment and the uncertainty of the global economic environment."

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Nigeria's Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Rating (IDRs) at 'BB-' and 'BB' respectively. The Outlooks on the Long-term IDRs are Negative. The issue ratings on Nigeria's senior unsecured foreign-currency bonds are also affirmed at 'BB-'. The Country Ceiling is affirmed at 'BB-' and the Short-term foreign-currency IDR at 'B'.

On March 20, 2015, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign ratings on the Federal Republic of Nigeria to 'B+' from 'BB-'. We affirmed the short-term ratings at 'B'.