The Executive Board of the National Bank of Moldova decided by a unanimous vote to maintain the monetary policy rate at the level of 19.5% a year. The decision is aimed at anchoring the inflationist anticipations so as to curb and maintain the rate of inflation around the target of 5.0% in the medium term, with a possible deviation of ±1.5 percentage points, IPN reports.

In a press release, the central bank says exports and imports in the first ten months of 2015 decreased by 16.1% and 24.1% respectively compared with the corresponding period last year. The volume of freight declined by 17.6% on January-October 2014. Instead, the industrial production grew by 3.5%. However, the remittances transferred to Moldova through banks fell by 31.5%.

Statistics show the GDP declined by 3.7% in the third quarter of 2015 following an accentuated reduction in the gross value added in agriculture. Thus, agriculture in the period shrunk by 17.4%.

The imports of goods and services in the third quarter of 2015 also decreased, while exports were by 0.2% lower compared with the corresponding period of 2014.

The monetary policy of Moldova continues to be affected by external risks. The internal inflation is influenced by the poor economic activity in the countries of the Eurozone and the deeper recession in Russia, which are Moldova’s main foreign trade partners. The extension of the geopolitical tensions in the area could determine additional inflationist pressure.

According to the National Bank of Moldova, the inflationist pressure is expected to persist in the next quarters, including because of the unfavorable weather conditions last year and the low base compared with a year ago.