trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/W_1ne2Ugp93VQ7fOVCiaHA2 content esgSubNav
In This List

Russian central bank delivers 3rd consecutive rate cut amid growth concerns

Podcast

Street Talk Episode 87

Blog

A New Dawn for European Bank M&A Top 5 Trends

Blog

Insight Weekly: US banks' loan growth; record share buybacks; utility M&A outlook

Blog

Banking Essentials Newsletter 2021: December Edition


Russian central bank delivers 3rd consecutive rate cut amid growth concerns

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation cut its key interest rate for the third time in the year, lowering it by 25 basis points to 7.0% amid lagging inflation and GDP growth amid heightened risk of a global economic slowdown.

Annual consumer price inflation decelerated to 4.3% in August from 4.6% in July, the central bank noted. Consequently, the bank now expects annual inflation in the range of 4.0% to 4.5% for the year, compared to a previously estimated range of 4.2% to 4.7%.

Russia's GDP growth continues to trail the bank's expectations as demand for Russian exports and investment activity are weak. As such, the bank lowered its GDP growth forecast range to 0.8% to 1.3% from 1.0% to 1.5% for 2019 and revised the forecast for 2020-2021 downward.

The bank anticipates growth to accelerate to about 2% to 3% by 2022 if the government's measures for "overcoming structural constraints, including the implementation of national projects," are realized.

The Russian central bank kept the door for further policy easing open.