DUSHANBE, October 9, 2013, Asia-Plus -- The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) has lowered its refinancing rate by 0.6 percent in order to ensure effectiveness of the monetary policy, the source at Tajik central bank said. 

According to him, refinancing rate is the main instrument of the monetary policy and it is used to ensure an efficient implementation of the main goals of the country’s monetary policy.

Proceeding from this, Tajik central bank on October 7 lowered its refinancing rate to 5.5 percent from 6.1 percent set on July 9, 2013, the source added.

Last year, Tajik central bank reportedly lowered its refinancing rate four times -- from 9.0 set on February 24 to 6.5 percent set on August 15, 2012.

In 2011, the National Bank of Tajikistan raised its refinancing rate on October 14 to 10 percent from 9.0 percent set in March.

In 2010, NBT changed the refinancing rate only once, in November.  Tajik central bank raised the refinancing rate from 8 percent in July 2009 to 8.25 percent in November 2010.

In 2009, NBT changed the refinancing rate four times and the 8-percent rate set in July 2009 was the lowest refinancing rate in 2003-2009.  In 2009, the refinancing rate was lowered from 10% on May 12 to 9% in late June.  Before that, the refinancing rate was lowered from 13.5% to 12% on January 28 and to 10 percent on May 12.

In 2008, the central bank changed the refinancing rate three times.  On April, the bank cut it from 16 percent on February 8 to 14.75 percent.  On July 3, the refinancing rate was reduced from 14.75 percent to 14 percent and on November 19, it was reduced to 13.5 percent.

The highest refinancing rate was reported for October 2003 – 18.06 percent and the refinancing rate for December 2003 was 8.22 percent.

Refinancing, which is one of the main instruments of monetary policy, can alter the monthly payments owed on the loan either by changing the loan''s interest rate, or by altering the term to maturity of the loan.  More favorable lending conditions may reduce overall borrowing costs.  Another use of refinancing is to reduce the risk associated with an existing loan. Interest rates on adjustable-rate loans and mortgages shift up and down based on the movements of the various indices used to calculate them.  By refinancing an adjustable-rate mortgage into a fixed-rate one, the risk of interest rates increasing dramatically is removed, thus ensuring a steady interest rate over time.  This flexibility comes at a price as lenders typically charge a risk premium for fixed rate loans.