The board of Banco Central de la República Argentina has lowered the floor of the benchmark Leliq interest rate to 38% from 40% previously.

The latest cut brings the reference rate in effective terms to 45.4% per year, the central bank said in a press release.

"This keeps it in sufficiently positive territory to promote savings in pesos and at the same time recompose the credit situation of families and companies through the revival of credit," the monetary authority noted.

The move also reflects trends pointing to a "consolidation of the disinflationary process" and aims to stoke conditions for economic recovery. Argentina's inflation eased 2.3% in January, a significant drop from 3.7% in December.

The central bank believes that the economy has not left its "recessive phase" despite "an incipient improvement in several activity indicators."

The central bank has carried out eight interest rate cuts since President Alberto Fernández's appointment of Miguel Pesce as central bank head.