The Base Interest Rate in January 2008 stood at 4.68%, which is 1.25 percentage points up from January 2007, the Bulgarian National Bank announced.

The average interest rate on interbank deposits in BGN in January 2008 reached 4.89%, which is 1.30 percentage points up compared with the same period in 2007.

In January 2008 LEONIA Reference Rate stood at 4.75%, or 1.22 percentage points above January 2007.

The yield to maturity on BGN long-term government securities on the secondary market rose 1.25 percentage points to 5.02%. The long-term interest rate came to 5.07% in January 2008 or 0.80 up from a year ago.

The average interest rates on BGN-denominated loans of the Non-financial Corporations sector rose 0.92 percentage points y/y to 9.20% on overdraft, by 0.63 percentage points to 10.48% on short-term loans, and by 1.49 percentage points to 9.98% on long-term loans.

The average interest rate on BGN-denominated overdraft of the Households sector fell 0.44 percentage points y/y to 13.65% in January 2008. The average interest rate on BGN-denominated long-term loans for house purchases and on other loans decreased by 0.47 percentage points to 8.03%, and by 0.02 percentage points to 13.13%, respectively, while that on consumer loans grew 0.06 percentage points to 10.06%.

The average interest rate on BGN-denominated overnight deposits of the Non-financial corporations sector rose 0.02 percentage points y/y to 0.65% in January 2008 and on BGN-denominated time deposits with maturity of up to 1 month - by 1.17 percentage points to 3.76%.

The average interest rate on BGN-denominated overnight deposits to the Households sector climbed 0.08 percentage points to 0.94%. The average interest rate on BGN-denominated time deposits with maturity of up to 1 month increased by 0.14 percentage points to 3.74%, and on deposits redeemable at notice - by 0.32 percentage points, reaching 2.81%.