YEREVAN, May 8, /ARKA/. Armenia's Central Bank has decided today to keep its key refinancing rate unchanged at 8.0 percent . It said in a statement hat inflation in April as opposed to March rose by 0.6% . As a result the 12 month inflation rate dropped by 0.3 p.p. from the previous month to 1.9%, which was below the government's target range of 2.5 percent to 5.5 percent for the year.
The Central Bank Board said Armenia’s inflationary environment is going to be free from pressures from international commodity and food markets. Despite fluctuations in prices of oil and wheat, their impact was assessed as neutral.

The Board considers also that the processes in the Armenian economy do not imply growth in private spending and the impact of fiscal policy will also free of inflationary pressure. The Central Bank noted that the global economy as well as Armenia’s economy are moving forward in line with the baseline scenarios for the first quarter of 2012.

In view of the expected inflation rate the Board expect the projected 12-month inflation rate to be within the projected target of 4 ± 1,5%. This in view the Central Bank decided to keep the key refinancing rate at 8%, which will have a neutral impact on the inflationary environment. -0-