Money Supply Down 2.7% In January.

In January, the money supply, which includes the amount of cash in circulation and the amount of cash held in current accounts and deposits with commercial banks, fell by 2.7% to USD 37.4 bln as of February 1, 2006. Concorde Capital: The National Bank’s (NBU) substantial FX interventions (the NBU sold USD 780 mln in January to support the UHA/USD exchange rate) and the mobilization of bank funds trough deposit certificate placements of USD 240 mln were the main factors for the reduction in the money supply. The excessive money supply was an important inflation driver last year: the money supply rose by 54% in 2005. This year we expect the NBU to pursue stricter policy in money supply control to keep inflation at reasonable levels.