Central Bank has decided to maintain the current policy interest rates following its monthly Monetary Board meeting held Friday.

In the Monetary Policy Review released yesterday the Central Bank said considering the macroeconomic developments, the Monetary Board has decided to keep the Repurchase rate at 7.00 percent and the Reverse Repurchase at 8.50 percent.

The Central Bank has noted that the Inflation was moderating over the second half of 2011 to record an year-on-year inflation to 4.7 percent in November, the lowest this year.
The monetary authority said the supply side improvements, particularly in agricultural produce, have brought down domestic prices.

The Bank expects the improvements in the performance of the domestic agricultural sector combined with the infrastructure development to further subdue inflationary pressures next year.
Continued increases in revenues from services sector, especially from tourism, worker remittances, foreign direct investment (FDI), long-term debt for development projects, and inflows to commercial banks are expected to help cushion the expanding trade deficit this year.