YEREVAN, February 1. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia expects inflation to stabilize at the level of projected 4% in the second half of 2023, Chairman of the Central Bank Martin Galstyan said at a press conference on Tuesday.
He said the overall inflationary background was gradually weakening thanks to the regulator’s restraining monetary policy, dram revaluation and weakening of external inflation factors.
He noted that high demand is still observed in the labor market that contributes to the growth of wages and prices of certain types of goods and products.
On Tuesday, the Central Bank decided to leave the refinancing rate at 10.75%. Galstyan said Central Bank will be consistent in ensuring price stability and neutralizing any risks associated with inflationary expectations with commensurate actions.
Galstyan said the Central Bank believes that risks of deviations from the above-mentioned trajectory are balanced. In case of risks, the regulator’s board will react accordingly and ensure stability of prices.
Galstyan also noted that the inflationary pressure is restrained by the market. This is partly due to the exchange rate as well as the behavior of the FAO index.
“For example, cooking oil prices, which peaked last February, are now at a lower level and, naturally, we see that food prices in Armenia are also declining from their peaks,” he said.
The Chairman of the Central Bank said that the balanced monetary policy allowed achieving an inflation rate of 8.3% in 2022, “which is higher than our goal, but nevertheless much better than in many countries of the world.’ -0-
