ArmInfo.Central Bank of Armenia decided to raise the refinancing rate by 0.5 percentage point from 6.5% to 7%.
As ArmInfo was told in the press service of the Central Bank of Armenia, this decision was made today, on August 3, at a meeting of the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia.
In accordance with this, the lombard repo facility rate was also increased by 0.5 percentage points - from 8% to 8.5%, and the deposit facility rate from 5% to 5.5%.
Today at a press conference (at 3:30pm), head of the Central Bank Martin Galstyan will present a detailed justification of this decision of the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia.
To note, this is the fourth upward revision of the refinancing rate in 2021. For the first time, the Central Bank raised the refinancing rate on February 2 - from 5.25% to 5.5%. In accordance with this, lombard repo facility rate increased by 0.25 percentage points - from 6.75% to 7%, and the deposit facility rate - from 3.75% to 4%. The second increase in the refinancing rate followed on May 4 - by 0.5 percentage points to 6%, in accordance with which the lombard repo facility rate was also increased - to 7.5%, and the deposit facility rate - to 4.5%. And the third increase in the refinancing rate followed on June 15 - up to 6.5%, in accordance with which the lombard repo facility rate was also increased - up to 8%, and deposit facility rate- up to 5%.
Prior to that, in 2020, the Central Bank revised the refinancing rate four times downward and once upward. In particular, after the reduction of the refinancing rate from 5.5% to 4.25% (March, April, June, September), December was followed by an increase to 5.25%. And the corresponding change was undergone by the lombard repo facility rate and the deposit facility rate.
