Фото: Нацбанк Беларуси
The National Bank of Belarus does not plan to change the refinancing rate in the near future, Chairman of the Board Roman Halouchanka told Belarusian television.
“The rate is one of the key instruments for managing monetary policy. All central banks use this tool when certain negative trends appear. But at the moment, we do not see any reasons to seriously consider raising the rate. I emphasize: this is for the time being,” he said.
In June, the refinancing rate was raised by 0.25 percentage points to 9.75% per annum. Before that, it had remained unchanged for two years.
Halouchanka believes that the current rate level is sufficient to contain inflationary pressures.
“Even though inflation slightly exceeds the target threshold, we objectively understand that the contribution of the monetary component to this is low. Therefore, at present, specialists at the National Bank see no need for sharp movements regarding the rate. Decisions are made collectively and based on thorough expert analysis. In principle, I believe that a 2–3% spread between the inflation rate and the refinancing rate is optimal, and that is what we have today. We see no reason to use this instrument,” he said.