MINSK, 2 May (BelTA) – The refinancing rate of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) has been reduced by two percentage points to 22% per annum as of 1 May, BelTA learned from representatives of the Information and Public Relations Office of the country's central bank.
According to the source, on 25 April the NBRB Board and the Monetary Policy Committee made a number of decisions concerning monetary management. In particular, as from 1 May the refinancing rate has been reduced from 24% to 22% per annum. The interest rate on permanently available and two-way operations designed to keep up the current liquidity of Belarusian banks has been reduced from 30% to 27% per annum. The interest rate on permanently available operations designed to drain the liquidity of Belarusian banks has been reduced from 16% to 15% per annum.
The source explained that these and other decisions have been made taking into account the current situation, near-term forecasts, and the existing risks in the economy and the monetary sphere.
In the future the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus will continue implementing a strategy designed to reduce the risk premium in interest rates taking into account the comprehensive analysis of emerging macroeconomic risks and the expected development of the national economy.
The source explained that slower growth of the money supply, the availability of a net surplus of foreign currency on the domestic currency market, the normalizing situation on the deposit market have resulted in lower inflation pressure in the country.
The growth rate of prices is expected to further go down in the next few months. Meanwhile, interest rates on ruble loans and deposits remain high, including in real terms. In March 2016 the interest rate on new ruble loans totaled 33.4% per annum, the interest rate on fixed-term deposits reached 24.3% per annum. These figures are considerably higher than the inflation rate.
The previous time the key lending rate in Belarus was decreased by one percentage point on 1 April. Before that the refinancing rate was increased by five percentage points on 9 January 2015.
