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Belarus National bank decreases refinancing rate to 36 percent starting from April

Belarus has decreased refinancing rate by two percent points to 36 percent per annum starting from April 2, 2012

MINSK, March 28 (Itar-Tass) —— Belarus has decreased refinancing rate by two percent points to 36 percent per annum starting from April 2, 2012, the Information Department of the National Bank of Belarus said on Wednesday.

The decision on the decline of the refinancing rate was adopted against the background of the strengthening of the sustainable upward trends in the economy and in the banking sector of the republic, the National Bank’s information department said, pointing to the slide-down of the inflation processes, stable growth of the rouble denominated deposits of the population, and improvement of the external trade condition.

In 2011, the refinancing rate was raised from 10.5 percent to 45 percent per annum, due to the deep financing crisis and the hike of the inflation in the republic.

Only on February 15, when the stabilisation trends became manifesting more clearly both in the economy and on the financial market, the National Bank decreased the refinancing rate to the level of 43 percent per annum, the information department said, adding that the bank took this step for the first time over the several past months.

The next decline of the refinancing rate was carried by the National Bank starting from March 1, when the indicator was cut by five percent points, the department said.

The decline of the refinancing rate means that the banking loans will be cheaper, as well as it will be easy to the real sector of the economy and the consumer demand of the population will revive. However, this may mean that the deposit rates will be decreased, which will cause the drop of their attractiveness. Several economic experts are confident that this may lead to the outflow of the private deposits denominated in the Belarusian roubles and to the converting of savings into foreign currencies.

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