OREANDA-NEWS. October 28, 2011. The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) is raising the refinancing rate by 5 percentage points to 35% starting October 14, the NBB said in a statement.

“The decision to raise the key rate has been another move to implement the general economic policy of the NBB and the government aimed at macroeconomic stabilization, intended to ease the pressure on the exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble and bring down inflation,” the NBB said in a statement.

The NBB said it would continue to adjust key macroeconomic instruments, depending in the situation on the home and overseas markets.

This will be the tenth increase in the key rate this year. Last year, the refinancing rate was cut six times. The key rate was last adjusted on September 14, 2011, when the NBB upped the refinancing rate 3 percentage points to 30%.

As previously reported, NBB chief Nadezhda Yermakova said in early October that the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) did not find it expedient to keep raising the key rate any further, as the refinancing rate had stopped being a market instrument, with interest rates on retail deposits at 40-45%. “If we keep raising the refinancing rate, it will hardly catch up with inflation. If we make it 80%, the entire economy will be brought to a halt,” the NBB chief said.