The board of Romania's Central Bank decided to slash the monetary policy rate/FOTO: gruprc.ro / FOTO: Money.ro

The board of Romania's Central Bank (BNR) decided to slash the monetary policy rate from 8 percent to 7.5 percent starting January 6, surprising the market, as most of the analysts expected the lender to maintain the benchmark rate or cut it by 0.25 percent.

Most analysts estimated BNR to maintain the key interest rate at 8 percent following uncertainties regarding the fiscal policy and inflationist pressures, or to reduce it by 0.25 percentage points, to 7.75 percent.

The central lender plans to continue monitoring the internal evolutions and those of the international economic environment in a bid to assure financial stability.