Hungary's central bank cut its base rate by 15 basis points to 1.95 percent, a move that was widely expected, but made no immediate comments about the decision.
The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) said in February that it would consider further monetary easing in March when it reviews its outlook for inflation.
The central bank had kept rates on hold since July 2014 after a two-year easing cycle that lowered rates by 490 basis points.
But in January the MNB started to refer to the possibility of inflationary expectations falling and last month it underscored that it was becoming more convinced of the need to ease policy to avoid disinflationary trends becoming entrenched and persistent deflation.
Recent polls of economists had showed expectations for a rate cut today of 10 to 20 basis points.
Hungarian consumer prices fell by an annual 1.0 percent in February compared with a fall of 1.4 percent in January, for the sixth consecutive month of deflation, well below the central bank's medium-term inflation target of 3.0 percent.
www.CentralBankNews.info
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