Serbia's central bank bought euros on the local interbank market on Tuesday to stem dinar gains against the euro, dealers said. The bank intervened as the dinar, bolstered by investments, sales of Serbian treasury bonds and corporate demand, traded at 117.45 to the euro. The previous day it bought 60 million euros ($65.32 million).
The central bank has so far in 2019 purchased 2.295 billion euros. It has also sold 190 million euros. Sasa Djogovic, a economist with the Belgrade-based Institute for Market Research (IZIT), said the strong dinar and the trend of euro purchases are an indicator that the central bank may cut its benchmark rate on Oct. 10.
"There's ample space for a further relaxation of monetary policy," Djogovic told Reuters. On Monday, Erste Group also said the central bank may further cut its main rate if dinar appreciation tensions continue.
Last month the central bank kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 2.5% citing low inflation and turmoil in international markets. Serbia's inflation in August fell to 1.3%, from 1.6% in July - the bank's target of 3% give or take 1.5 percentage points.
Comments
Comments are closed.