The Board of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan has decided to raise the refinancing rate to 14% from 9%, the press service of the bank said in a message.
“This decision was made due to the acceleration of inflation for the past period and the need to limit the increased inflationary risks,” the message said.
Along with seasonal fluctuations and supply factors, the inflation level was influenced by such monetary factors as the acceleration of lending to the economy and the devaluation of the Uzbek national currency in comparison with the previous year, according to the message.
In these circumstances, the decision to increase the refinancing rate is considered by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan as an effective anti-inflationary measure aimed in particular at limiting the influence of monetary factors on the growth of price level and inflation risks, keeping inflation within the target parameters, ensuring positive real interest rates and balanced conditions for lending to the real sector of the economy, creating the necessary prerequisites for the transition to the regime of floating exchange rate, said the message.
The refinancing rate was lowered from 10% to 9% in January 2015.
According to statistics, inflation in Uzbekistan was 5.7% in 2016 as compared to 5.6% in 2015. It is planned to keep inflation within the range of 5.7-6.7% in 2017. (Trend/Business World Magazine)
