ULAN BATOR, Sept.20 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's central bank on Tuesday decided to raise its benchmark interest rate to 12 percent.
"After taking into account the current and future state of the economy and financial markets, and external and internal uncertainties or risks to the economy, we decided to raise the benchmark interest rate from 10 percent to 12 percent to stabilize the rate of inflation in the medium term and maintain the relative return of the Mongolian national currency Tugrik," Byadran Lkhagvasuren, governor of the Bank of Mongolia, told a press conference.
The annual inflation rate in Mongolia reached 14.4 percent in August, while in the capital Ulan Bator, home to over half of the country's population of 3.4 million, it reached 14.8 percent. ■
