Cyprus Central Bank keeps rates unchanged

The official interest rates of the Central Bank of Cyprus, that is the minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations, the interest rate on the marginal lending facility and the interest rate on the overnight deposit facility, remain unchanged at 4.50%, 4.50% and 2.50%, respectively.
Central Bank Governor Christodoulos Christodoulou said on Friday the decision was taken despite the relatively positive developments on the price front in September.
He noted that inflation trends continue to be lurking and are being pushed by the high price of fuel and the significant growth in the availability of credit in the private sector.
Announcing the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to maintain unchanged the official interest rates of the Central Bank, Christodoulou said that after a thorough discussion, the Committee noted that the international and local developments have not changed significantly since its last session on September 1, warranting at the current stage a change in local interest rates.
Christodoulou said that on the domestic front, the MPC noted that inflation declined to 2.38% in September from 3.10% in August, while for the first nine months of the year inflation reached 2.87% compared to 2.53% last year.
With regard to international developments, Christodoulou said that the Committee took into consideration the fact that the European Central Bank, in its recent meeting, increased its key interest rates by 0.25 percentage points.