Romania's central bank left its key interest rate unchanged for the 12th straight session on Friday.

The Board of the National Bank of Romania kept the monetary policy rate at 1.75 percent, the bank said in a statement. The decision was in line with economists' expectations.

Rttnews says that the minimum reserve requirement ratio on foreign currency-denominated liabilities of credit institutions and the ratio on the ron-denominated liabilities were maintained at 10 percent and 8 percent. The former was lowered from 12 percent late September.

"With core inflation rising and consumer spending still strong, we expect the MPC to strike a hawkish tone at this afternoon's post-meeting conference," Capital Economics economist Liam Carson said. "Indeed, we think that the Romanian central bank will be the first in Central and Eastern Europe to raise interest rates."