The result was the reduction of the Bank Rate by a cumulative 2 percentage points to 7.5 percent during the year, against the background of, among others, below-trend GDP growth and a positive outlook for inflation in the medium term.
Accordingly, commercial banks reduced their prime lending interest rates by the same magnitude to 9 percent, with corresponding movements in most other market interest rates. As a related matter, and in a bid to reward depositors, commercial banks have been advised to publish and offer to customers their 91-day deposit products.