BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's central bank is set to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 percent next Tuesday for the ninth consecutive month, mainly due to uncertainties abroad, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
All 15 analysts and traders polled by Reuters this week and last said the central bank would keep the rate <RSCBIR=ECI> <RSDREPO=> on hold.
In March, the bank said that divergent policies of key international central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate rise, and their impact on global capital flows motivated it to keep the rate steady.
Serbian inflation in February rose to 3.2 percent from 2.4 percent a month earlier. The Statistics Office is scheduled to announce March inflation data on April 12.
The reasons for the central bank keeping the rate unchanged in April center on future Fed positions and a number of other risks including French and German elections, and Brexit, said Sasa Djogovic, a analyst of the Belgrade-based Institute for Market Research.
Djogovic said there was an off chance that uncertainty stemming from ongoing protests in Serbia might prompt the bank to opt for a minimum rate hike to assure investors.
The Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic won a landslide election victory with over 55 percent of votes in April 2 presidential election.
But, thousands of protesters, mainly students, started rallying throughout the country against Vucic's victory and his rule they see as fraudulent and autocratic.
The dinar (EURRSD=) has lost 0.4 percent against the common currency so far this year, prompting central bank to sell over of 340 million euros to prop it up.