LUANDA, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The National Bank of Angola (BNA) said Monday that it has decided to cut the reference interest rate from 20 percent to 19.5 percent as inflation has slowed down and the national currency Kwanza has appreciated.
The BNA will also cut the interest rate on the Permanent Liquidity Transfer Facility from 23 percent to 21 percent and keep the interest rate on the Permanent Liquidity Absorption unchanged at 15 percent.
The decisions were made following a meeting with the Monetary Policy Committee.
The BNA said the unemployment rate, which stood at 30.2 percent, fell for the third consecutive quarter, against the 31.6 percent recorded last year, and the confidence of managers and businessmen in the non-financial sector regarding the evolution of the national economy in the short term was optimistic.
In August, the BNA said, inflation continued to decelerate to 19.8 percent, down from the 21.4 percent recorded in July.
"The Monetary Policy Committee maintains the outlook for the inflation rate at the end of the current year to be below the initial forecast of 18 percent, moving towards the single-digit objective in the medium term," the BNA said. ■