Tuesday, January 10 2012 21:22
Central Bank retains refinancing rate at 8%
ArmInfo. At today's sitting, the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) made a decision to retain the refinancing rate at 8%, the CBA press service told ArmInfo. According to the source, in December 2011 2.5% inflation was fixed in the country. As a result, annual inflation reached 4.7% and met the admissible target of 4% (+/-1.5%).
The CBA Board stated that the inflationary pressures entering the Armenian economy from the world economy are weak. The international prices of the main food commodities and raw materials dropped in December 2011.
Nevertheless, the trends of the world economy development and possible inflation risks are in the focus of the CBA's attention. The inflation risks from the Armenian economy development are minimal, particularly, the impact on the inflationary environment from the fiscal policy, private expenditures and labor market is estimated as neutral.
To recall, the CBA Board raised the refinancing rate from 7% to 7.25% on 11 May 2010 and retained it at this level till 8 Feb 2011, when the refinancing rate was raised to 7.75%, then to 8.25% on March 4, afterwards to 8.5% on April 12. On October 11 the refinancing rate was reduced to 8%.