TBILISI, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Georgia's central bank decided Wednesday to keep its key refinancing rate unchanged at 7 percent.
"The Monetary Policy Committee of the bank met today and decided not to change the current refinancing rate," the National Bank of Georgia said in a statement, adding that the dynamic of inflation is in compliance with existing forecasts.
"In August, the annual inflation rate decreased to 5.7 percent. The forecasts say that by the end of the year the inflation rate will be slightly higher but from the next year, as soon as temporary factors are gone, it will be 3 percent," the bank said.
The bank also said foreign demands maintain a positive tendency and Georgia's exports as well as tourism incomes are fast growing.
The bank started tightening its monetary policy from February 2015, pushing the key refinancing rate from 4 percent up to 8 percent by the end of that year. The rate remained unchanged since May 2, 2017 at 7 percent.
The bank data show that during the first seven months of this year, Georgia's economic growth was 4.4 percent while the inflation rate averaged 5.8 percent.
