Page 24 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Belarus Dec17

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8.0 Financial & capital markets 8.1 Central Bank policy rate
The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) intends to cut its benchmark interest rate to 14-16% by the end of 2017 , its deputy chairman Sergei Kalechit said on October 4.
Belarus central bank predicts the key refinance rate will be cut to 10% in 2018, the National Bank of Belarus (NBB)'s governor Pavel Kallaur told journalists on November 2.
He added that the regulator has no intention of making "some significant steps" to reduce the refinancing rate next year. According to Kallaur, the central bank also estimates inflation will be about 6% in 2018.
The statement followed October's cut of the rate to 11%. In annual terms, consumer prices in the post-Soviet nation rose by 5.3% in August. The merchandise which are not subject to seasonal influence and administrative regulation make a major contribution to the slowdown in annual growth rates of consumer prices, the NBU said in a statement at the time.
The share of goods in the consumer basket, in which prices grew by less than 5% in annual terms, increased to 63% in August 2017 (about 30% more than a year earlier).
"With regard to the actual dynamics of inflation, it is expected that the growth in consumer prices will be lower at year-end 2017 than predicted earlier, closer to 6%," the regulator statement reads.
24 BELARUS Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com