YEREVAN, May 23, /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia said last Friday it expects inflation to ease in the second half of the year and fall to the projected level of 4% (±1.5%). In a statement sent to ARKA news agency, the Central Bank said it believes that domestic economic impulses will be neutral in terms of impacting inflation rates and the fiscal policy of the government and private expenditures will to a certain extent stifle the domestic demand.

The Central Bank said also it expects a significant growth in the agricultural sector due to favorable climatic conditions and a set of measures designed to boost agricultural output which is will result in an increased supply of domestically grown fruit, vegetables, and cereals to slash surge in food prices.

The Central Bank said also anti-inflationary measures, including a rise in its benchmark refinancing rate from 7.25 to 8.5 percent since the beginning of February, and effective interest rates will help ease the inflation in the second half of the year. This in view the Central Bank said it will not revise its monetary policy.

According to the latest figures released by the National Statistics Service on May, the annual inflation rate of 8.9 percent was reported in April, down from 11.5 percent and 12.4 percent reported in March and February, respectively. The composite consumer-price index fell slightly in April after rising by 5.2 percent in the first quarter of this year. The data shows that the April inflation fell primarily because of an almost 4 percent drop in the prices of fruit and vegetables. Food prices, including beverages and tobacco products, dropped by 0.5%, while prices of nonfoods rose by 0.5% as servic prices remained unchanged. -0-