The Central Bank said that despite continuation of tight monetary policy and minimizing the impact of monetary factors, in the fourth quarter of 2017, an increased level of inflationary pressures to the economy remains.

According to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, the inflation rate based on the consumer price index (CPI) in Uzbekistan was 14.4% in 2017, including food prices rose by 15.9%, non-food prices - by 16.1% and services - by 8.6%. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the inflation accelerated to 6.1%.

The regulator said that the Central Bank will continue tight monetary policy course, aimed at ensuring price stability by minimizing the impact of monetary factors of inflation.

In the current realities, the task of curbing the growth of the price level requires concentrating the main efforts to minimize the risks associated with non-monetary prerequisites, the Central Bank said.

The ongoing process of adjusting domestic prices under impact of price liberalization and foreign trade conditions will exert some inflationary pressure on the economy, the regulator said.

Fast growth of construction and investment in economy compared to growth of production of building materials may result in growth of prices.

Given the emerging and expected level of influence of monetary and non-monetary factors on price stability in development and implementation of interest policy by the Central Bank, the focus will be on minimizing the impact of the credit channel on level of money supply and aggregate demand in economy, as well as preserving positive dynamics of growth in soum savings of the population in banks.

The Central Bank will also proceed from the nature of the growth factors of the money supply and the formation of consumer and investment demand in the economy.

At the same time, under the prevailing influence of fiscal and external factors in the dynamics of the money supply, an excessive increase in the refinancing rate may not yield the expected results, while at the same time adversely affecting business activity and investment processes in the real sector, the regulator said.

At the same time, in the event of excessive liquidity and excessive growth of its volume in the banking system, as well as increase in potential inflationary risks from monetary factors, the Central Bank will take additional measures to strengthen the anti-inflationary orientation of monetary policy, including by introducing appropriate changes in the procedure for compulsory reservation by commercial banks.