Page 28 - BELRptOct18

8.2 Central Bank policy rate
The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) will keep its key refinancing rate unchanged at to 10%, the regulator said in a statement published on September 19.
The move followed June's cut of the NBB's key refinancing rate from 10.5% to 10% . The central bank attributed the move to the fact that "projections concerning the situation in economy, foreign trade, the currency market, and the deposit market indicate that the emerging money and credit conditions will keep inflation within the targeted range".
The move was attributed to the central bank's intension to support the monetary conditions, which will put the actual inflation close to the 5% target in 2019-2020.
In August, consumer prices rose by 5% year-on-year. This year's inflation is expected to be close to 5.5% y/y while the target has been set at 6% at most, the NBB added in the statement.
"Domestic demand has a moderate effect on price dynamics. Inflation pressure from the external sector has increased somewhat primarily due to the expected acceleration of inflation processes in Russia," the regulator's statement reads. "In order to keep inflation pressure from the external sector at bay and hit the inflation target, it is necessary to preserve the disinflationary nature of monetary conditions."
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.
28 BELARUS Country Report October 2018 www.intellinews.com