Rwanda holds rate, inflation seen at 2.5% in March 2015

    Rwanda's central bank maintained its key repo rate at 6.5 percent for the first quarter of 2015 to support the economy with its current accommodative policy stance.
    The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR), which cut its rate by 50 basis points this year,  said following the quarterly meetings of its Financial Stability Committee and its monetary policy committee that the financial sector remained sound with strong capital and solvency ratios and return on assets in the banking sector of 1.9 percent by end-September.
    Pressure on inflation was also contained in 2015 and headline inflation is not expected to exceed 2.0 percent by the end of December and be around 2.5 percent in March 2015.
    Rwanda's urban inflation, which the central bank tracks, in November was 0.7 percent in November, up from 0.2 percent in September due to the fall in oil prices and domestic food prices. Consumer price inflation, however, fell to minus 3.1 percent in November from minus 2.1 percent in October.
    The bank said pressures to the outlook for inflation could come from uncertain international commodity prices and the exchange rate.
    "However, these risks are not expected to drive inflation on the extreme upside," the bank said.

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