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National Bank to lower refinance rate to 28.5 percent on March 13

The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) has decided to lower its base refinance rate from 30 to 28.5 percent on March 13, the NBB press office announced on Tuesday.

The keeping of the rate at 30 percent for six months, since September 12, 2012, helped preserve the necessary degree of rigidity of monetary policy for maintaining macroeconomic balance and meeting inflation deceleration targets, the press office said in its statement.

The current and predicted slowdown in inflation provides grounds for gradually reducing the refinance rate, simultaneously keeping rubel deposits profitable and more attractive than foreign currency deposits, the press office said.

The National Bank’s refinance rate was reduced from 45 percent at the beginning of 2012 to 30 percent in September.

Under the 2013 Monetary Policy Guidelines, the rate is to be between 13 and 15 percent at the end of the year. //BelaPAN