March 22 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's central bank said on Wednesday it decided to raise its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points (pp), to 5.50%, as uncertainties related to anticipated inflation trends remain high.
The central bank also decided to increase the interest rate on overnight deposits by 0.25 pp to 3.40% and and the rate on seven-day deposits also by 0.25 pp to 3.45%, it said in a press release.
The central bank expects annual inflation to continue to slow down in the coming months, but expectations for the future price dynamics of primary products on the stock exchanges are still accompanied by great uncertainty, the press release read.
According to the most recent data, annual inflation in North Macedonia decelerated to 16.7% in February from 17.1% in January.
The central bank also decided to offer 10 billion denars ($175 million/162.1 million euro) worth of central bank bills at an auction on Wednesday, unchanged in comparison with the amount offered at the previous auction held on February 15.
North Macedonia's central bank raised its key rate by 0.50 pp in February, after increasing it eight times in 2022.
(1 euro = 61.69 denars)