Sierra Leone Central Bank Holds Rate at 23%

The Bank of Sierra Leone maintained its monetary policy rate steady at 23%, and kept the standing facility rate at 30%, and the reverse repo rate at 25%.  The Bank said: "The Committee underscored the need for the Bank to continue to maintain  a tight monetary policy  stance  in order to contain  the second round effects of imported inflation.  This will be achieved through active liquidity management in the secondary market to sterilize excess liquidity arising from foreign exchange inflows, complemented by weekly foreign exchange auctions."

The bank of Sierra Leone also held the monetary policy rate unchanged at 23% at its June meeting this year, where it also increased the standing facility rate by 300bps to 30%.  Sierra Leone reported an annual inflation rate of 16.8% in July and June, compared to 17.8% in May, and 15.4% in April, and up from the 12.5% rate experienced during 2010.  Finance Minister, Samura Kamara, said GDP growth is expected around 5.5% during 2011, compared to IMF statistics which reported the Sierra Leone economy as growing 4.77% last year.

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