The rate has remained unchanged since May 2015.
The central bank also kept minimum reserve requirements on foreign currency liabilities at 10% and reserve ratios for leu-denominated deposits at 8%.
The central bank said in a detailed statement the annual inflation rate returned to positive territory in January 2017, reaching 0.1%, from -0.54% in December 2016, and advanced to 0.2% in February, matching the projected level.
Economic growth accelerated at a faster-than-expected pace in the fourth quarter of 2016, with real GDP rising at an annual rate of 4.7%, from 4.3% in the previous quarter. The pick-up in GDP dynamics was widely ascribed to the contribution of net exports, amid the slightly brisker growth of exports and the slightly slower increase in imports of goods and services, while domestic demand played a secondary part. On the supply side, the services sector strengthened its dominant position in terms of GDP formation.
In 2016 as a whole, GDP growth hit an eight-year high of 4.8%. The current account deficit widened to 2.3% of GDP, compared with 1.2% a year earlier, mainly on the back of a worsening in the trade balance and the balance on primary income.
For the beginning of 2017, available statistical data show a further high growth rate of turnover volume in trade and a swifter increase in industrial production, together with an ongoing contraction of activity in the construction sector. Unit wage costs industry-wide edged higher, with wage growth still well above labor productivity growth, despite a slight recovery in the latter at the end of 2016 and the start of 2017.
Real monetary conditions remained stimulative in the first quarter of 2017. The annual growth of credit to the private sector continued in February, largely on account of the advance in new loans to non-financial corporations. The share of leu-denominated credit in total private sector loans widened to 57.7% (from a low of 34.6% May 2012), amid further divergent developments in the two components (up 13.9% for lei and down 11.5% for foreign currency in February). This certifies the improvement in monetary policy transmission, while also helping mitigate risks to financial stability, the central bank said.
The most recent assessments reconfirm the outlook for the annual inflation rate to stick to a slightly upward path in the following months, while remaining significantly below the lower bound of the variation band of the flat target. Uncertainties and risks surrounding the inflation outlook stem from both domestic and external sources.
Domestically, they arise primarily from the evolution of fiscal and income policies in 2017, as well as from the uncertainties regarding the future adjustments in administered prices, especially those related to the energy market deregulation, whose developments may differ from the initial assessments.
Looking at the external environment, risks stem mainly from the uncertainty surrounding economic growth and inflation developments in the euro area, regionally and globally, as well as from the fluctuations in international oil prices.