The benchmark lending rate remained at 9.75 percent, Governor Chukwuma Soludo said in the capital, Abuja, today. Rates have been on hold since a half-point cut at an emergency meeting in September that was called in response to the credit crisis.

Nigeria’s currency has lost a quarter of its value against the dollar since Nov. 26, pushing up the inflation rate in December for the fourth consecutive month. The pick-up in price growth means the central bank has been unable to follow policy makers worldwide and cut rates to cushion the economic slowdown.

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