Armenia's Central Bank increases refinancing rate from 7.75% to 8.25%
YEREVAN. March 9 (Interfax) - Armenia's Central Bank decided to raise the refinancing rate by 0.5 of a percentage point to 8.25% as of March 4, the CB said in a statement posted on its website.
The statement said that Armenia's inflation rate in February 2011 came to 1.9% with the average annual rate at 12.4%. The Central Bank is alarmed by recent increasing inflation pressures driven by rising world prices for foodstuffs and commodities Therefore, the institution decided to continue tightening up its monetary policy.
The previous increases on the refinancing rate took place on February 8, 2011 when the bank raised it by 0.5 p.p. to 7.75%.
Armenia's refinancing rate was raised five times throughout 2010 - January 21, February 16, March 9 and April 13 - by 0.5 p.p. and May 11 - by 0.25 p.p. As a result, the rate increased from an initial 5% to 7.25%.
Inflation in Armenia in 2010 and 2009 came to 9.4% and 6.5%, respectively.
