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 the existing levels of minimum reserve requirement ratios on both leu- and foreign currency-denominated liabilities of credit institutions.
The central bank said in a statement Friday that the annual inflation rate continued to rise above the upper bound of the variation band of the target in June 2021, implicitly above the forecast, climbing to 3.94% from 3.75% in May and 3.05% in March 2021.
The pick-up in the second quarter owed almost entirely to the exogenous CPI components, similarly to the previous quarter. The main contribution was made by the hike in fuel prices amid higher oil prices, followed by the modest influences coming from the increase in the prices of fruit and vegetables, as well as from the rise in tobacco product prices.
Average annual CPI inflation rate and average annual inflation rate calculated based on the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices climbed to 2.9% and 2.4% respectively, from 2.6% and 2.1%, respectively in March 2021.
“The latest statistical data confirm the continued recovery of the economic activity in the first quarter of 2021 at a pace significantly faster than expected; real GDP lowered its decline in annual terms to only -0.2% from -1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2020 given a 2.9% quarterly growth, i.e. marginally more pronounced than previously estimated. The evolution implies an almost full recovery in this period of the sharp economic contraction in the second quarter of 2020, as well as the re-opening of the positive output gap in the first quarter of 2021, two quarters ahead of the May forecast,” the central bank said in its statement.
The central bank’s Board decisions aim to preserve price stability over the medium term in line with the 2.5% ±1 percentage point flat inflation target, in a manner conducive to achieving sustainable economic growth in the context of the fiscal consolidation process, while safeguarding financial stability.