Angola holds rate, cuts standing, raises absorption rate

    Angola's central bank maintained its BNA policy rate at 9.25 percent but continued to adjust its other policy rates "in order to continue to influence the reduction of the costs of financial intermediation, in particular mortgage interest rates."
    The National Bank of Angola (BNA) cut the rate on its standing lending liquidity facility by 25 basis points to 10.0 percent while it raised the rate on its liquidity absorption facility by 25 basis points to 1.50 percent.
    Last month the BNA also raised the liquidity absorption rate by 50 basis points and cut the reserve requirement on local currency deposits to 12.5 percent from 15.0 percent. The BNA has maintained its policy rate since November 2013 and cut it by 100 basis points last year.
    Angola's inflation rate eased to 7.48 percent in February from 7.84 percent in January while credit to the economy rose by 12.31 percent over the last 12 months to 2.963 billion kwanza.
    The central bank added that the kwanza's exchange rate had remained stable, with an average rate of 97.60 to the U.S. dollar. In 2013 the kwanza depreciated by only 1.8 percent against the dollar.
    In 2013 Angola's economy expanded by 7.4 percent, up from 2012's 5.2 percent growth.
 
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