One illustration of this change in behaviour is the large increase in balances held in mortgage offset accounts and redraw facilities. In aggregate, households now have balances in these accounts equivalent to 17 per cent of total outstanding housing loans, which is a buffer worth 2½ years of scheduled repayments at current interest rates (Graph 6).
The tight monetary policy was one of the reasons behind the strengthening of the hryvnia and improvement in inflation expectations. With a time lag, that produces a major impact on prices, offsetting the effect of the sustained consumer demand and worse harvest of some vegetables, which push prices upwards. What will be the future trajectory of inflation?