At the meeting held in the Dilijan Research Center, the CB Board decided to keep the refinancing rate unchanged at 6.0%.

According to the Public Relations Department of the Central Bank, 0.4% deflation was recorded in August, with the 12-month inflation remaining at the same level as 0.9% by the end of August. Meanwhile, the 12-month natural increase has risen dramatically over the general inflation, from 0.7% in the previous month to 1.5%, while seasonal agricultural products prices have dropped dramatically from 7.8% to 1.2%.

In the external sector, global economic growth trends have continued in both developed and developing countries. The latter contributed to the formation of a considerable high level of copper prices while moderate inflation was observed in other commodity markets. In this case, the Central Bank expects weak inflationary effects from the external sector.

The council has registered that in the first half of 2017 the economic growth exceeded the expectations by 1.0 percentage point, making 6.0%, as compared to the same period last year. High economic activity has also persisted in the third quarter, due to the growth in industry and service sectors, which compensated the decline in agriculture and construction. According to the CBA, the domestic demand is recovering faster than expected, as evidenced by the high rates of economic lending, import growth and high rates of normal inflation. Internal demand recovering has largely been conditioned by the expanded monetary policy and fiscal policy less than forecasted.

"In this situation, the Board of the Central Bank is of the opinion that the current rate of policy rate is quite promising, and according to the predicted scenario will remain for some time promoting. It will continue to push its impact to the aggregate demand, which will gradually increase the stabilization in the forecast horizon over the target.

In case of deviation risks from the perspectives of economic development and inflation trajectory, the Central Bank will clarify the monetary policy directions in a medium-term, ensuring the inflation target, "the Central Bank said.

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