The National Bank of Moldova has released a communique «On basic rate of the NBM».
In particular the following is stated: «The National Bank of Moldova activates in strict compliance with the enforced legislation for the purpose of fulfilling its fundamental objective – ensuring and maintaining the prices stability. With a view to achieving this objective the National Bank of Moldova promotes a monetary policy adequate to the country’s economic situation. Being a component part of the monetary policy, the interest rates policy promoted by NBM is targeted towards setting out rates relevant for the current situation, indicating, at the same time, a future perspective. According to data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics, in June the consumer prices kept the level of the previous month, while in the first semester they advanced only by 3.9% as compared to 7.4%-increase recorded in the respective period of the previous year, due to which the cumulative inflation for 12 months decreased from 14.1% (December 2006) to 10.4% (June 2007). The inflation rate registered in the first semester of 2007 continued to display a descendant trend, which proves the correctness of the monetary policy promoted by NBM. At the same time, the slower trends of the inflation reduction process recorded during Quarter II denoted the existence of certain inflationary expectations. In these circumstances, in order to ensure the irreversibility of the inflation rate reduction process, the Council of Administration of the National Bank decided to maintain the basic rate of the National Bank, applied for banks’ refinancing through 2-month state securities REPO-buying operations, at the level of 13.5% per year. With a view to decreasing the growth rate of the inflation level, the National Bank of Moldova will continue to closely monitor the monetary conditions, using the whole set of instruments under its command, including through the increase of the volume of excess liquidity sterilization within the banking system. The adjustments of the interest rates policy shall be carried out depending on the dynamics of macroeconomic and monetary indicators, taking into account the creation and the maintenance of the conditions necessary for ensuring a sustainable economic growth. The Council of Administration of the National Bank of Moldova states the opinion that proceeding with the inflation rate reduction process will make it possible to decrease the basic rate. ».