June 15 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's central bank said on Wednesday it decided to raise its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points (pp), to 2.00%, after increasing it by 0.25 pp last month.
The central bank also decided to increase the interest rate on overnight deposits by 0.25 pp to 0.40% and that one on the seven-day deposits by 0.15 pp to 0.45%, it said in a press release.
The interest rate hikes are expected to spur the growth of bank deposits in the domestic currency denar, the central bank said.
The central bank added it took into account the continuously increasing inflation rate when taking the decision.
The average inflation in the country reached 9.1% in the January-May period, which is moderately higher compared to the central bank's latest projections, it said.
In May, the country's central bank raised its average inflation forecast for 2022 to 8.8% from the previously expected 2.4%, reflecting the rising global prices of primary products and disruptions in global supply chains.
The central bank also decided to offer 10 billion denars ($169.8 million/162.8 million euro) worth of central bank bills at an auction on Wednesday, unchanged in comparison with the amount offered at the last auction held on May 11. The central bank's policy rate is the interest rate on the central bank bills.
(1 euro = 61.43 denars)