Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 5
By Ali Mustafayev – Trend:
The National Bank of Kazakhstan decided to reduce the base rate (the percentage by which the Central Bank of any country issues loans to commercial banks and accepts money from them for deposits) to 9.5 percent with a +/- 1 percent corridor, the press-service of the financial controller said in a message .
"Annual inflation continues to slow within the target corridor of 2018. Inflationary expectations show a tendency to decline," the message said.
At the same time, the bank does not exclude the risks of annual inflation reaching the lower border of the corridor of 5-7 percent, but in the medium term it is expected to fix inflation within the new 4-6 percent target corridor for 2019.
The National Bank of Kazakhstan intends to continue a policy of gradual reduction of the base rate in 2018, while maintaining a neutral monetary and credit environment given the favorable trends and positive assessments of the situation in foreign markets and trading partner countries, as well as expectations for maintaining the economic growth of Kazakhstan in 2018-2019.
Since early 2018, Kazakhstan’s annual inflation has slowed more rapidly than the National Bank expected, and in February it reached 6.5 percent.