Russian cbank still sees inflation of 4% possible in 2017

MOSCOW, Feb 15 (PRIME) -- Russia’s central bank still plans to reach its target of inflation of 4% until the end of 2017, Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina told the Federation Council, the parliament’s upper house, on Wednesday.

“We plan to reach our inflation target of 4% in time, at the end of 2017,” she said.

Consistent and low inflation is the most important factor allowing households and businesses to build long-term plans, making low inflation part of a foundation for a switch to an investment type of the economic development, she said.

She also said that the regulator will continue its battle with bad banks, and it will take several more years to purge the industry.

“The Bank of Russia has been cleaning and improving the financial health of the market’s participants for three years. Regarding non-credit financial institutions, the work has been almost finished. But cleaning of the banking sector will take several more years,” she said.

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