Moldova cuts refinancing rate citing Covid-19

By bne IntelliNews March 5, 2020

Moldova’s central bank, the BNM, cut the refinancing rate by 1pp to 4.5% on March 4, citing disinflation risks posed by the global Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

The decision to ease monetary policy is oriented towards supporting the aggregate demand that, within the transmission mechanism limits, will be passed through more channels, including the lending channel, BNM explained. Extraordinary board meetings to address unexpected developments were announced as possible.

Last December, BNM slashed the monetary policy rate by 2pp in an unexpected move broadly seen as aimed at helping the government with lower borrowing costs and slightly stronger economic growth rates.

The headline inflation was still 6.9% in January, but the BNM expects it to return within the 5%+/-1.5pp target band in Q2 and drop to 3% by the end of the year, according to the quarterly inflation report issued in early February.

Related Articles

Moldova’s largest lender maib puts Bucharest exchange listing on hold

The largest bank in Moldova, Moldova Agroind Bank (main), announced it is postponing its plan to list on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) because certain provisions in Moldovan legislation make the ... more

bne IntelliNews Southeast Europe Outlook 2024

This Southeast Europe Outlook 2024 has been prepared by bne IntelliNews as part of a series of annual reviews providing updates on the geopolitical, macroeconomic and commercial state of ... more

Addiko Bank AG receives stable outlook from Fitch Ratings

Fitch Ratings has assigned Austria-based Addiko Bank AG a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'BB' and Viability Rating (VR) of 'bb' with a stable outlook. ... ... more

Dismiss