British News Agency

"The Committee has also decided to adjust the monetary policy operational framework by setting the Central Bank overnight borrowing and lending rates 300 basis points below and above the one-week repo auction rate, respectively" read the CBRT statement and added:

"In February, led by services inflation, the underlying trend of monthly inflation was higher than expected. While imports of consumption goods and gold slowed down and contributed to the improvement in the current account balance, other recent indicators imply that domestic demand remains resilient. Stickiness in services inflation, inflation expectations, geopolitical risks, and food prices keep inflation pressures alive. The Committee closely monitors the alignment of inflation expectations and pricing behaviour with projections, and the impact of wage increases on inflation."

"The Committee continues to implement macroprudential policies in a way to preserve the functionality of the market mechanism and macro-financial stability" said in the statement and went on as follows:

"In this context, financial conditions were tightened, and monetary policy transmission was reinforced by the measures taken in March. The monetary transmission mechanism will continue to be supported in case of unanticipated credit growth and deposit rate developments. Market liquidity will be closely monitored, and sterilisation tools will continue to be used effectively whenever needed.

Taking into account the lagged effects of monetary tightening, the Committee will make its policy decisions in a way that will create monetary and financial conditions necessary to ensure a decline in the underlying inflation trend and reach the 5 percent inflation target in the medium term. Indicators of inflation and the underlying trend of inflation will be closely monitored. The Committee will decisively use all the tools at its disposal in line with its main objective of price stability."