April 9 (SeeNews) - Serbia's central bank said on Tuesday it decided to keep its key repo rate unchanged at 3.0%.
"In making this decision, the executive board was primarily guided by the expected inflation movement and its underlying factors from the domestic and international environment," the central bank, NBS, said in a statement.
Inflation in Serbia is expected to remain within the 1.5%-4.5% target band in the coming period, NBS noted.
Serbia's average annual consumer price inflation accelerated to 2.4% in February, from 2.1% in January, according to the most recent official data available. On a monthly comparison basis, Serbia's consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.7% in February, after rising by 0.4% in January.
The central bank also said it remains cautious in its monetary policy, due to international market developments, while demand- and supply-side factors make the future movements of oil prices uncertain.
The pace of the monetary policy normalisation by the Fed and the ECB is uncertain, which could bring volatility to global capital flows, the NBS said.
However, the resilience of the Serbian economy to a potential negative impact from the international environment has increased, owing to improved macroeconomic indicators and prospects.
NBS cut the repo rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.25% in March 2018 and then lowered it further to 3.0% in April 2018 to help guide inflation to its target band.
The NBS will hold its next rate-setting meeting on May 9.