BISHKEK, July 28 (Reuters) - The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan said on Tuesday it was lowering its main interest rate to 8.0 percent from 9.5 percent, following a seasonal decrease in consumer prices in the Central Asian nation.
Annual inflation dropped to 5.0 percent as of July 17 from 11.6 percent at the start of the year, the central bank said.
The country's gross domestic product expanded by 7.3 percent year on year in the first half of 2015, the bank said. Without taking into account the flagship gold venture with Canada's Centerra Gold, GDP would have grown by 4.4 percent in annual terms in January-June, it said.
The central bank's monetary policy aims to achieve and maintain inflation of between 5 and 7 percent in the medium term.
(Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Michael Perry)