YEREVAN, March 20. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia has lowered the refinancing rate to maintain macroeconomic stability in the country, Arthur Stepanyan, a member of the central bank’s board, said at a news conference at the Unified Information Center on Friday.
On March 17, the regulator decided to reduce the refinancing rate by 0.25 percentage points, bringing it to 5.25%.
“The Central Bank of Armenia lowered the refinancing rate, while many countries in the region increased it or left it unchanged, because in this situation the role of monetary policy is limited, and its tools cannot impact the development of the real economy due to health issues, as well as the development of certain areas economy,” Stepanyan said.
He pointed out the need to continue maintaining macroeconomic stability, which will allow the government to provide more effectively targeted measures in connection with various sectors of the economy.
In addition, in his words, given that a rather low inflationary atmosphere has been recorded in Armenia since 2015 and that at the moment inflation is again quite low, the central bank in this way makes it possible to balance the main goals of economic activity and price stability.
The last time the Central Bank of Armenia changed the refinancing rate on September 10, 2019, lowering it by 0.25 percentage points, to 5.5%. Before that, the regulator last changed the refinancing rate in March 2017, when it suspended the easing of monetary policy, setting it at 6%.
In the government budget of Armenia for 2020, economic growth is projected at 4.9%, and inflation at 4% (± 1.5%). -0—
