Romania's central bank left the key interest rate unchanged for the seventh successive meeting amid high inflation.
The Board of the National Bank of Romania decided on Tuesday to maintain the policy rate unchanged at a record low 5.25 percent. The decision was in line with economists' expectations. The previous reduction in the rate was in March 2012 and the bank opted to pause the rate-cutting cycle in the following meeting in May.
The bank said it will ensure adequate liquidity management in the banking system and maintain the existing levels of minimum reserve requirement ratios on both leu and foreign currency-denominated liabilities of credit institutions.
Annual inflation accelerated to 4.95 percent in December, well above the central bank's 2012 target of 3 percent. The bank targets inflation at 2.5 percent this year. The central bank is set to release its latest Inflation Report today.
The Romanian economy shrunk 0.5 percent sequentially and 0.6 percent annually in the third quarter. The International Monetary Fund has projected a domestic-demand growth of about 1.6 percent for this year, after a possible stagnation in 2012.
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