The Bank of Russia expectedly kept the key rate at 16%

Moscow. 26 April. INTERFAX.RU – The Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia at a meeting on Friday kept the key rate at 16%, the regulator said in a statement.

“Current inflation pressure is gradually weakening, but remains high. Due to the continued increased domestic demand, which exceeds the possibilities for expanding supply, inflation will return to the target somewhat slower than the Bank of Russia predicted in February,” the regulator reports.

The Central Bank notes that the return of inflation to the target and its further stabilization near 4% implies a longer period of maintaining tight monetary conditions in the economy than previously predicted.

“In the base scenario, the Bank of Russia raised the forecast for the average key rate in 2024 and 2025 to 15.0–16.0% and 10.0–12.0%, respectively. The monetary policy pursued by the Bank of Russia will consolidate the process of disinflation in the economy. According to According to the forecast of the Bank of Russia, taking into account the current monetary policy, annual inflation will decrease to 4.3–4.8% in 2024 and return to 4% in 2025,” the report says.

Earlier on March 22, the regulator also kept the key rate at 16% per annum.

The next meeting of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank on the rate will be held on June 7.