The National Bank of Ukraine cut its discount rate by 25 basis points to 7.50% from 7.75% previously. The bank also cut the rate for transactions backed by treasury bills and the rate for non-collateral transactions by the same margin to 8.50% and 10.50% respectively. The bank also eased reserve requirements in order to boost lending to the real sector of the economy. Ukraine reported inflation of 3% in February and 3.7% in January this year. The Ukrainian economy grew 4.6% on an annual basis in the December quarter (6.6% in Q3, 3.8% in Q2). Ukraine’s currency, the Ukrainian hryvnia (UAH), last traded around 8.03 against the US dollar.
