YEREVAN, 29 October. /ARKA/. Having cut the refinancing rate to 7.25 per cent Armenia’s Central Bank has kept loan rates from rising significantly, the regulator's head Martin Galstyan said today.

He said the lowering of the refinancing rate has triggered a huge demand for credit products in the country prompted in turn by high economic growth recorded over the past three years and external demand.

‘Now interest rates do not show a downward trend,’ he explained at a press conference.

At the same time, Galstyan suggested that such a trend will appear in the future, as the Central Bank's actions are characterised by a long lag.

Noting in this regard that the government bond market is very interesting, the head of the regulator explained that as a result of the Central Bank's policy, the yield on 10-year government bonds dropped  from 12% at the end of 2022 to 9.5% as of 28 October this year.

‘Today, the risk free rate in our country is about 9.5 per cent,’ he said.

On 29 October, the Central Bank lowered the refinancing rate by 0.25 p.p., to 7.25%. This is the 12th consecutive reduction of the refinancing rate since June last year, when the rate was at 10.5%, and the seventh since the beginning of this year (8.75% in January). -0-