YEREVAN, November 13. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Central Bank has decided today to leave the refinancing rate unchanged at 6%, saying also the inflation in January 2018 was recorded a 2.7%, almost as much as in 2017 January.

As a result the 12-month inflation at the end of the month was also 2.7%. According to the regulator, the direct and indirect effects of tax and customs changes were within the Central Bank estimates.

The Central Bank said the economic activity in the fourth quarter of 2017 was quite high, resulting from reported high growth in services and industry, which was accompanied by rapid growth in private domestic demand, promoted by expansive monetary policy and a relatively high growth in lending.

Nevertheless, there is still a need for monetary incentives to ensure the stable recovery of demand, especially given the fact that additional inflationary expectations have weakened significantly.

This in mind, the Central Bank decided to maintain the current level of monetary conditions. At the same time, it believes that there will be a need to gradually neutralize the stimulating monetary conditions for the achievement of inflation targets.

As a result, the inflation is expected to continue to grow gradually, fluctuating within the permissible range and subsequently stabilize around the projected figure. The Central Bank said in case of need it will adjust the directions of monetary policy.

In March 2017, the Central Bank suspended monetary policy easing, setting the refinancing rate at 6%. -0-