KIEV, July 4 – The National Bank of Ukraine will defy pressure to hike key interest rates and will keep them unchanged for now despite galloping consumer prices, NBU Governor Volodymyr Stelmakh said Friday.

The NBU’s discount rate, the rate at which it lends money to commercial banks, has been set at 12% since early May. Consumer prices, however, rose 31.1% between May and May 2007.