by Elena Fabrichnaya and Alexander Marrow
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian central bank raised its main key rate by 100 basis points on Friday, to 13%, in the face of a weak ruble and persistent inflationary pressures.
A month ago, the bank had already raised its rate by 350 basis points to 12% during an emergency meeting.
On Friday, she warned that further increases could occur at future meetings while inflationary risks remain high.
“We raised the rate due to the emergence of inflation risks and we will keep it at high levels for a fairly long period, until we are convinced of the lasting nature of the slowdown in inflation,” the bank’s governor, Elvira Nabiullina, said at a press conference.
The decision to raise rates again is in line with the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters.
On the financial markets, the ruble gained 0.5% against the dollar, to 96.85, but remained below the day’s high, at 96.10.
The Russian central bank, which targets inflation at 4%, revised its price rise forecast to 6.0%-7.0% for the end of the year, from 5.0-6.5% previously.
It forecasts growth in gross domestic product (GDP) for 2023 of between 1.5% and 2.5%.
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow, Elena Fabrichnaya, Darya Korsunskaya and Maria Kiselyova; with contributions from Amruta Khandekar; writing by Alexander Marrow and Mark Trevelyan in London; Blandine Hénault for the French version)
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