The Executive Board of the National Bank of Moldova on September 4 decided to increase the amount of required reserves attracted in Moldovan lei and nonconvertible currencies starting with the period of applying the required reserves in Moldova lei – September 16 – October 15 – by 2.5% to 42.5% of the calculation base. The decision was made in a move to sterilize the excess of liquidity, IPN reports.

The Board also decided to maintain the base rate applied to the main short-term monetary policy operations at the current level of 6.5% annually and to also maintain interest rates on overnight loans at the current level of 9.5% annually and on overnight deposits at the current level of 3.5% annually. The amount of required reserves in freely convertible currencies will remain at the current level of 14.0% of the calculation base.

In a press release, the National Bank said the decision was taken based on the updated macroeconomic analysis and the assessment of the risks of deviation from the medium-term inflation forecast. The given risks can derive from the food prices that in July 2018 rose higher than projected. Also, the prices of regulated services and goods, the basic inflation and the fuel prices are in concordance with the values anticipated in the August forecast round.