The Executive Board of the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) on Tuesday decided to decrease the base rate applied to the main short-term monetary policy operations to 4.75 percent annually and the interest rates on overnight loans and deposits to 6.75 percent and 2.75 percent, respectively, IPN reports.
Also, the required reserves ratio in Moldovan lei and nonconvertible currency for the application period between December 16, 2023 and January 15, 2024 was decreased from 34.0 percent of the calculation base to 33.0 percent. For the same period, the required reserves ratio attracted in foreign currency was reduced from 45.0 percent of the calculation base to 43.0 percent. This way, the central bank aims to stimulate lending and to support internal demand by concomitantly encouraging consumption and investments so as to balance the national economy, the NBM said in a press release.
The risks and uncertainty of the forecast grew primarily due to the tensions in the Middle East. Also, risks related to the quotations of energy resources, decline in economic activity in the Eurozone, the war in Ukraine, the moment of relaxation of monetary policies in the region and globally, the temporary supply shocks and food prices are expected to come from outside. There is also domestic uncertainty related to the adjustment of charges, method of reflecting the cold-month compensatory payments for energy resources in statistics, the flow of refugees, the weather conditions and the future crops.
