February 5 (SeeNews) - Romania's central bank BNR is likely to keep its key rate unchanged to 2.50% at its monetary policy meeting on February 7, analysts said.
"We expect the NBR to remain on hold at 2.50% at this week’s meeting. Moreover, we expect the monetary policy rate at the current level in 2019-20, while the central bank is likely to conduct monetary policy by managing liquidity conditions (via FX interventions and repos/depos)," UniCredit Bank analysts said on Monday in a weekly analysis.
For their part, ING analysts said that they, too, expect no change at the BNR meeting this week.
"As was the case in January, media attention will likely be channeled towards the BNR’s stance on fiscal measures and its communication with the government," ING analysts said on Monday in a daily snapshot of Romanian economy.
The central bank last changed its key rate in May, increasing it to 2.50% from 2.25%, the third rate hike in 2018.
Romania's annual consumer price inflation decelerated to 3.27% in December from 3.43% in the previous month, according to the national statistical office.
In November, BNR affirmed its annual inflation forecast for 2018 at 3.5%, at the upper end of its target band of 1.5-3.5%.
(1 euro = 4.7440 lei)