Report: Russian cbank may switch to 0.5 pp key rate changes

MOSCOW, Jan 14 (PRIME) -- Russia’s central bank may return to 0.5 percentage point steps in key rate changes, Alexei Zabotkin, head of the monetary policy department of the central bank, said in an interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily published on January 12.

“The step of 25 basis points is minimal, as lesser changes are unable to have a noticeable impact on the economy. The Bank of Russia is capable of moving in larger steps if something in the economic situation or in our forecasts changes drastically,” Zabotkin said as quoted by the daily.

The last time the regulator used a 0.5 percentage point step was in December 2017, and after that the authority raised the rate by 0.25 percentage points twice and reduced the rate by the same amount twice. Currently, the rate stands at 7.75% annually.

The board of directors of the central bank is to discuss the monetary policy and the key rate on February 8, and to revise its macroeconomic forecasts on March 22.

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