Central Bank of Armenia decided to keep the refinancing rate at 7.25%

ArmInfo.At its meeting today, the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia decided to leave the refinancing rate unchanged, at 7.25%,the press service of the Central  Bank of Armenia reports.  According to the source, the rates on  Lombard repo facility and on Deposit facility attracted from banks  remained unchanged - at the level of 8.75% and 5.75%, respectively.

It is pertinent to note that in September of this year, official  y-o-y  inflation in the consumer market of Armenia reached 8.9% (data  from the RA Statistical Committee), while real inflation rose to 8%  (according to the Central Bank of Armenia), against 1.4% and 1.3% per  annum, respectively, in the same month of 2020.

To note, before that, , the Central Bank raised the refinancing rate  five times in 2021 - from a total of 5.25% to 7.25%. So, for the  first time, the Central Bank raised the refinancing rate on February  2 - from 5.25% to 5.5%. In accordance with this, the rates on lombard  repo increased by 0.25 percentage points - from 6.75% to 7%, and on  deposits attracted from banks - from 3.75% to 4%.  The second  increase in the refinancing rate followed on May 4 - by 0.5  percentage points to 6%, in accordance with which the rates on  lombard repo were also increased - to 7.5%, and on deposits attracted  from banks - to 4.5%.

The third increase in the refinancing rate followed on June 15 - up  to 6.5%, in accordance with which the rates on lombard repo were also  increased - up to 8%, and on deposits attracted from banks - up to  5%.

The fourth increase in the refinancing rate took place on August 3 -  by 0.5 percentage points to 7%, in accordance with which the rates on  lombard repo were also increased - to 8.5%, and on deposits attracted  from banks - to 5.5%.

And the fifth increase took place on September 14 - by 0.25  percentage points to 7.25%, in accordance with which the rates on  lombard repo were also increased - to 8.75%, and on deposits  attracted from banks - to 5.75 %.

Prior to that, in 2020, the Central Bank revised the refinancing rate  by reducing it four times and raising it once. In particular, after  the reduction of the refinancing rate from 5.5% to 4.25% (March,  April, June, September), an increase to 5.25% was followed in  December. And the corresponding change was undergone by the rates on  lombard repo and on deposits attracted from banks - up to December  6.75% and 3.75%.