June 10 (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank has cut its main policy rate to its pre-war Ukraine level of 9.5% and is eyeing further cuts this year as inflation slows after s approaching a 20-year peak and an economic contraction looming.
Four days after Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine on February 24, the central bank urgently raised its main rate to 20% before lowering it three times in increments of 300 basis points.
Two weeks ago, she lowered it from 14% to 11% during an extraordinary meeting.
“The Bank of Russia will consider the need for lowering the key interest rate at its next meetings,” the institution said in a statement.
The bank hopes that the inflation rate, at 17% on June 3, will reach its target of 4% in 2024.
It now expects the consumer price index to rise in the range of 14% to 17% this year compared to previously forecasting a rise to 18-23%.
The fall in economic activity in the second quarter turns out to be less marked than expected and the full-year contraction could also be less than it anticipated in April, the Bank of Russia said. .
(Reuters report, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Sophie Louet)
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