Monday, June 27, 2011

Jordan inflation rate falls to 4.7% y/y in Aug

LENDING RATES: The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) slashed its benchmark lending rates by a total of 250 basis points in an easing cycle that dates back to November 2008. (Getty Images)

LENDING RATES: The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) slashed its benchmark lending rates by a total of 250 basis points in an easing cycle that dates back to November 2008. (Getty Images)

Jordan's year-on-year consumer price inflation (CPI) fell to 4.7 percent in August from 4.8 percent in July, according to figures released by the Department of Statistics on Monday.

Yearly inflation - which stretched into double digits in 2008 on the back of record oil and commodity prices - has picked up again after falling to 3.9 percent in January this year.

Inflation in the oil-importing kingdom ran at around 5 percent in the first half of 2010, buoyed by rising energy costs. Economists expect it to hover around 6 percent this year while the government still hopes it will stay in a 3-4 percent range.

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) slashed its benchmark lending rates by a total of 250 basis points in an easing cycle that dates back to November 2008.

Its discount rate is currently 4.25 percent and the rise in inflationary pressures have fuelled expectations among analysts and dealers in domestic money markets that there was less room for further cuts.

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That has sent average yields on 18-month Treasury bonds closer to 5 percent, rising along with three-year bonds by at least 150 basis points since the start of the year, bankers say. ($1 = 0.709 dinar) (Reuters