May 11 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's central bank said on Wednesday it decided to raise its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points (pp), to 1.75%, after increasing it by 0.25 pp last month.
The decision to further tighten the monetary policy is based on the expectations for longer and strong pressures on import prices, which also affects the inflation projections, the central bank said in a statement.
Latest data shows that annual inflation reached 10.5% in April, which indicates that the average annual inflation will be higher than previously expected. The rise in prices continues to stem from factors on the supply side, primarily from higher food and energy prices on a global level, the central bank said.
The central bank decided to offer 10 billion denars ($170.9 million/162 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 April 13. The central bank's policy rate is the interest rate on the central bank bills.
(1 euro = 61.71 denars)