January 9 (SeeNews) - Serbia's central bank, NBS, said on Thursday it has decided to hold its key repo rate at 2.25%.
In making this decision, the central bank was guided by the inflation outlook and macroeconomic indicators from the domestic and international environment, NBS said in a statement following a rate-setting meeting.
The inflation is likely to move around the lower bound of the 1.5%-4.5% target band until mid-2020 before gradually approaching the target midpoint thereafter under the impact of rising aggregate demand, the central bank said.
Serbia's average consumer prices rose by 1.5% year-on-year in November, after growing by 1.0% in October, official statistics show. On a monthly comparison basis, Serbia's consumer price index (CPI) grew by 0.2% in November, after rising by 0.1% in October, according to figures published on the website of the national statistical office.
NBS also said it remains cautious in its monetary policy, due to developments in the international financial and commodity markets. Movements in the global prices of oil and primary agricultural commodities are also uncertain, given the intricate impact of numerous factors on the demand and supply side, the NBS said.
However, the resilience of the Serbian economy to a potential negative impact from the international environment has increased, owing to the full coordination of economic policy measures, which resulted in lower internal and external imbalances, favourable macroeconomic prospects and an adequate level of FX reserves, NBS estimated.
The central bank cut the key repo rate by 0.25 of a percentage point to 2.25% in November to help guide inflation to the target band.
The NBS will hold its next rate-setting meeting on February 13.