Uzbekistan's central bank keeps policy rate unchanged

Uzbekistan's central bank kept its policy rate unchanged at 17.0% on Thursday.

The full effect of last month's hike was yet to manifest itself and therefore it wanted to maintain monetary conditions unchanged, the bank said in a statement.

It hiked the rate by 300 basis points in March, one of several ex-Soviet Central Asian statesto tighten monetary policy in response to turmoil on Russian financial markets.

It said remittances from Uzbek workers abroad - most in Russia - bounced back in April after falling sharply in March as domestic demand for foreign currency fell.

The bank also said it now saw full year economic growth at 3.5-4.5%, down from 5.5-6.5% previously, and inflation at 12-14% instead of the 8-9% previous forecast.

Gross domestic product grew 5.8% in the first quarter, while annual inflation accelerated to 10.5% in March.