Tunisia pegs benchmark interest rate at 7.75%

By Shile GIWA

Tunisia’s Central Bank has kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 7.75 per cent, it said on Friday.

The bank raised the rate in February to 7.75 per cent from 6.75 per cent in its efforts to combat high inflation. It was the third such increase in the past 12 months.

Tunisia’s annual inflation rate rose to 7.3 per cent in February from 7.1 per cent in January. It had reached 7.8 per cent last June, the highest since 1990.

The bank added that Tunisia’s foreign exchange reserves now stand at 14.585 billion dinar ($4.9 billion) from 13.974 billion dinar at the same time last year.====Reuters