At its meeting on 14 March 2018, NBG’s monetary policy committee decided to keep its policy rate unchanged at 7.25%. According to NBG, inflation started decreasing since the beginning of 2018, reaching 2.7% in February as one-off factors affecting price growth in 2017 faded. NBG, however deemed appropriate to maintain the moderately tight monetary policy as inflation is still under pressure from the NEER, despite its recent appreciation.
The gradual easing of the policy will be considered once the factors pushing inflation upwards are sufficiently weakened. According to the current NBG’s forecast, the inflation will remain close to its target level of 3% throughout 2018. The next committee meeting is scheduled for 2 May 2018.
