The Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) will cut interest rates for the third time this year to support the country’s economy amid the COVID-19 outbreak, state-run media quoted a statement of the central bank on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the CBM slashed annual interest rate by 1.5 percentage points, from 8.5 percent to 7 percent and the minimum bank deposit rate will be lowered by 2 percentage points from 7.0 percent to 5.0 percent. The changes on the rates will be effective on May 1. The CBM had cut the interest rate a first time by 0.5 percentage point on March 12 and a second additional cut of 1 percentage was implemented on March 24.