According to the Banking Sector Survey for the first quarter, banks reduced deposit rates for both commercial and consumer loans. The national bank notes that since the beginning of the year, the discount rate has been lowered twice – in March and April, by 1.5 percentage points – to 13.5% per annum.
The profitability of new business deposits reacted noticeably to the change in the key policy rate – banks lowered rates by 0.7 percentage points to 9.5% per annum. At the same time, the household deposit rate index was almost unchanged, and the average rate for new consumer deposit agreements decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 10.8% per annum.
As you may know, the board of the national bank decided to reduce the discount rate from 14.5% to 13.5% from April 26, although most bankers expected it to decrease more slowly.