The central bank left its deposit facility rate unchanged at 0.75% a year and its lending facility rate at 1.75% a year.
It also decided to maintain minimum reserve requirements for local currency deposits at 8% and reserve requirements on foreign currency liabilities at 5%.
Romania’s central bank governor Mugur Isarescu said at an IMF conference mid-April the central bank saw no reason to reduce the monetary policy rate further and was ready to ensure the flexibility of its inflation target considering the country’s high public debt.
He also said the central bank was ready to ensure more flexibility in the exchange currency rate.
The central bank currently targets inflation at 1.5%-3.5%. Its latest forecast sees inflation at 3.4% at the end of 2021. Annual inflation in Romania reached 3.05% in March, sliding back down from 3.16% in February.
Romania’s central bank lowered the monetary policy rate successively from 2.5% in March 2020 to 1.25% at present.