imageLIMA: Peru's central bank said on Sunday it was cutting its local currency bank reserve requirements by 50 basis points to 6.50 percent, effective June 1, to boost liquidity of soles in the money market and spur credit growth.

The central bank has gradually lowered the reserve floor for deposits in soles from 30 percent in mid 2013 as part of a raft of measures aimed at reducing commercial banks' lending in US dollars.

"This will inject about 251 million soles ($79.85 million) into the financial system, bringing the total released since we started reducing the reserve rate to 13.72 billion soles," the Central Bank of Peru said in a statement.

The bank said local currency loans to the private sector jumped 22.1 percent in April against the previous year, while dollar loans fell 7.8 percent during the same period.

The central bank forecasts growth in the mining-fueled economy will accelerate to 3.9 percent this year from an anemic 2.35 percent last year.

Copyright Reuters, 2015

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