The Board of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) decided on Friday to keep the benchmark interest rate in place at 6.5 pct, the central bank said in a release.

Also, the monetary authority decided to keep the lending facility interest rate (Lombard) at 7.50 pct per annum, while maintaining the deposit facility rate at 5.50 pct per annum, and leaving the minimum reserve requirement ratios on both RON- and foreign currency-denominated liabilities of credit institutions unchanged.

The central bank decided last year to lower the key interest rate twice – in July from 7 pct per annum to 6.75 pct, and in August to 6.5 pct per annum, after having kept it unchanged since January 2023.

AGERPRES