BoA keeps base interest rate at 5.75%

TIRANA, July 29؃entral Bank of Albania (BoA) stated on Wednesday it will keep its key repo rate unchanged at 5.75% after annual inflation in the first half of the year remained within the bank’s target bandwidth of two to four percent.
Annual inflation in the first half of the year is estimated at around 2.0%, slightly below the bank’s target band, BoA governor Ardian Fullani said in a statement. He added that in the second quarter of the year annual inflation has started to rise above the 2.0% threshold and is estimated at around 2.3%.
“The Bank of Albania estimates that the economic growth in the first half of the year will be positive. But, on the other hand, the slowdown in lending, business sentiment data and consumer sentiment data, and the slowdown in budget revenue show that the economic growth has slowed down in the first half of the year,” Fullani revealed.
BoA’s decision to keep the interest base rate unchanged aims to keep the macroeconomic stability in the country, he added.
In January, the Bank of Albania cut the rate by 0.5 percentage points to 5.75% in a bid to ensure the country’s macroeconomic stability amidst the global financial and economic turbulence. The cut was the first change in the rate since November 2007, when the BoA raised it by 0.25 percentage points to 6.25%.
Albania has said its sees its economy growing by 4.8% this year, compared to a 7.2% growth rate recorded in 2008.