Nabiullina speaks against changing inflation target of 4%

MOSCOW, Sep 28 (PRIME) -- Chairwoman of the Russian central bank Elvira Nabiullina opposed changing the inflation target, which is now around 4%, speaking at the Moscow Financial Forum on Thursday.

“I can't help but react to attempts to change the inflation target. The worst thing is to change the inflation target: then the benchmarks disappear altogether – neither the exchange rate nor inflation,” she said.

The chairwoman also said that the ruble exchange rate would have been weaker now if the regulator had kept the key rate at 7.5–8.5%.

Russian authorities need to act very carefully in the currency regulation, otherwise business will start circumventing restrictions, she said.

“I think we need to take into account the following: we all talk about how well we did last year, but it was our business that did well, it adapted. And we should be very careful saying “the situation has changed, let's build barriers”. And what will happen to the business that built these chains? How will it handle this? It will start to circumvent the restrictions, we had it in the late 1990s - early 2000s,” she said.

Macro forecasts of the central bank are more conservative than those of the Economic Development Ministry, but there is nothing terrible in their divergence, it is important to clarify them on time, Nabiullina also said.

Corporate lending in Russia grew by 22% over the year, banks are able to finance the growth and development of the economy, the chairwoman said.

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