The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Mozambique has decided to keep benchmark interest rates unchanged, along with the required reserves ratio, in this case at 8 percent, the Mozambican central bank announced in a statement.

The benchmark interest rates – the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility – have been kept at 7.5 percent and 1.50 percent respectively.

The committee also decided to intervene in the interbank market to guarantee compliance with the monetary base target for May 2015, which was set at 56.842 billion meticais.

According to the statement, those decisions were based on the favourable performance of domestic inflation, reflecting the effect of increased production and supply of fruits and vegetables usual during the cool season.

The statement added that the decisions were also due to fact that the slowdown of overall economic activity and continuing decline in prices for key goods could notably impact Mozambique’s balance of payments. (Macauhub/MZ)