Thus, the National Bank has suspended the cycle of lowering the discount rate, which began in July last year, NBU Chairman Andriy Pyshnyi said. As he noted, the decision is consistent with the need to maintain exchange rate stability and moderate inflation in 2024, bringing it to the target range of 5% ± 1 percentage point on the monetary policy horizon.
Pyshnyi said that the basic scenario of the NBU forecast, which assumes the receipt of a sufficient amount of international financing and the reduction of security risks in the next year, foresees a slight decrease in the discount rate from the second half of 2024.
In June 2022, the regulator increased the discount rate from 10% to 25%. This rate remained unchanged until July 2023, when the NBU lowered the rate to 22%. In September, the NBU lowered the rate to 20%, in October to 16%, and in December to 15%.