April 14 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's central bank said on Wednesday it decided to hold its policy rate unchanged at a historically lowest level of 1.25%, after slashing it by 0.25 percentage points last month.
The rate cut in March, accompanied by the reduced offering of Treasury bills, have contributed to a rise in the liquidity in the banking system and supported the flow of credit to the economy, the central bank said in a statement.
The central bank also decided to offer 10 billion denars ($193.3 million/161.7 million euro) worth of central bank bills at an auction on Wednesday, unchanged in comparison with the amount offered at the last auction held on March 10. The central bank's policy rate is the interest rate on the central bank bills.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell by 4.5% in 2020 and by 0.7% in the fourth quarter alone, in line with expectations, and available data for January and February point to continuing effects of the health crisis on the economic activity, the central bank noted.
Inflation is forecast at 1.5% at the end of 2021.
In 2020, consumer prices in North Macedonia rose by 1.2%, the country's statistical office said earlier.
(1 euro = 61.84 denars)