Armenian Central Bank Lowers Refinancing Rate To 5% From 5.25%

ARMENIAN CENTRAL BANK LOWERS REFINANCING RATE TO 5% FROM 5.25%

Interfax, Russia
Sept 8 2009
Yerevan

The Central Bank of Armenia lowered the refinancing rate 0.25
percentage points to 5% on Tuesday, the bank’s PR department said.

The new refinancing rate takes effect immediately.

The Central Bank decided to lower the rate in an attempt to pick up
the economy due to a continued decline in GDP. The decision "does
not threaten price stability," the bank said.

The refinancing rate was lowered by 0.25 percentage points to 5.25%
on August 11.

The latest reduction is the seventh since March 3, when the Central
Bank announced it was returning to the policy of a floating exchange
rate and raised the refinancing rate by 1 percentage point to 7.75%.