Yerevan/Mediamax/. The Board of the Central Bank (CB) of Armenia raised refinancing rate by 0,25 percentage points to 8.5%.

As Mediamax was told in CB press service, 0.8% inflation was registered in March 2011, and the 12-month inflation index made 11.5%. Thus, 8.3 percentage points of this index were conditioned by the growth of food prices.

CB Board states that there is a decline in price growth rates on food markets worldwide, however in the first quarter of 2011 the growth exceeded the forecasted level. In the nearest perspective it will preserve external inflation pressures, secondary inflation impacts and inflation expectations on the internal market.

CB Board believes that measures taken in the sphere of agriculture will facilitate the restoration of supply in the sector already in the coming months.

CB Board thinks that the toughening of monetary-credit policy since early 2011, deterring the impact of the monetary-budget policy on aggregate demand and assistance of other state structures, will create real preconditions for bringing the inflation back to target interval from the second half of 2011.