YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS. On March 28 the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia made a decision to keep the refinancing rate unchanged, setting it 6.0%, press service of the CBA told Armenpress.

In February, 2017 0.9% deflation was recorded compared to 1.4% deflation of February, 2016. The 12-month inflation comprised -0.2%. The CBA Board estimates that the 12-month inflation, as was predicted, will continue recovering and will be stabilized over a target figure in the predicted horizon.

The ongoing trends in external sector were mainly maintained: the global economy continues to grow slowly, but in international commodity markets further expansion of inflationary environment was realized compared to the prediction. There are still certain inflationary risks related with the quick increase of interest rate by the US Federal Reserve and outflows from developing and other developed countries to the US capital. Nevertheless, the CBA Board estimates that inflationary effects from the external sector are not likely in the upcoming months.

The Board records that the economic activity in the period of January-February, 2017 significantly exceeded the expectations which was mainly related with the greater growth rates registered in the fields of industry, services and trade. At the same time, the domestic demand continues gradually recovering. In such circumstances, the CBA Board considers it appropriate to keep unchanged the monetary-loan terms, by expecting acceleration of pace of economic activity and inflation recovery.