Armenia central bank has reduced its benchmark interest rate by 25 bps to 10.5%, citing a drop in the annual inflation rate to a two-and-a-half-year low of 1.3%. That marks its first interest rate cut since late 2020. The Lombard repo rate now stands at 12.0%, while the borrowing rate for commercial banks has been lowered to 9.0%. On foreign trade, the bank anticipates a decline in re-exports and imports for this year compared to last year’s high figures. Armenia’s foreign trade turnover experienced a significant YoY increase of 99.4% in the first four months of 2023, reaching USD 5.8 bln. Exports amounted to USD 2.2 bln, a more than two-fold increase, and imports rose by 93.9% to USD 3.6 bln.