Cbanker says may see reasons to raise key rate at next bd meeting

NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Oct 12 (PRIME) -- The Russian central bank does not rule out raising the key rate from the current level of 7.5% at the next meeting of the board of directors on October 26, First Deputy Chairwoman Ksenia Yudayeva told reporters on Friday.

“I think that a decrease now is, putting it lightly, improbable. There are many factors for no change,” Yudayeva said. “We are to see yet what information there will be on inflationary pressure, on the growth of inflationary expectations. We will monitor the situation, look at what factors for increase are or can be.”

Economic growth and annual inflation remained in line with the central bank’s forecast, she said.

Inflation forecast for 2019 amounts to 5.0–5.5% and the forecast for the real key rate to 2.0–2.5%, and is seen as neutral by the central bank.

The official separately said that the central bank will appraise the earlier measures of foreign currency control, including in terms of risks for the ruble.

“We’ve introduced stricter regulation in general on foreign currency loans several times. We will see how the already implemented measures worked, when risks for the ruble appear,” Yudayeva said.

The de-dollarization plan elaborated by the Russian authorities does not have a target level of dollar use in the economy.

The central bank still sees risks in full abolishment of foreign currency control.

According to Yudayeva, global markets have entered a period of high volatility, and the Russian market can be affected as well.

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