(Bloomberg) -- Nigerian central bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso voted for an even larger interest-rate increase than was delivered last month, confirming him as one of the most hawkish members on its monetary policy committee.

Minutes from the Feb. 26-27 meeting released Tuesday show that Cardoso, chairing his first gathering of the MPC since he took office in September, backed a 425 basis points hike to 23%. After voting, the 12-member committee instead decided to raise rates by 400 basis points to 22.75%.

“Given the imperative to curb inflationary pressures, which could pose social challenges and impede long-term growth prospects, I am persuaded that the MPC must adopt an assertive stance by tightening monetary policy measures,” he said, according to the minutes.

Cardoso’s rate call was the second highest on the MPC, with one other policymaker backing a 450 basis point move to curb inflation that’s surged to a 28-year high in Africa’s most populous country. The most dovish MPC member wanted only a 100 basis point rate hike while everybody else was grouped between a 300- and 400-basis point increase, the minutes showed.

The central bank meets March 25-26 and is expected to raise rates again to 23.75%, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg, after annual consumer price inflation advanced to 31.7% in February from 29.9% the month before.

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