Elvira Nabiullina: ‘We see room to lower the key rate’

Head of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina spoke about the possibility of reducing the key rate in the short term last Friday. She said this might happen in the second half of 2024.

“We see room to lower the key rate, but our outlook envisages that the comeback to neutral figures will be gradual,” Nabiullina claimed at a press conference on Friday.

As the chairwoman of the Bank of Russia stressed, the further trajectory of the rate would depend on how the speed and character of disinflation processes will comply with the task of returning inflation to the objective by the end of the year.

On Friday, the Central Bank of Russia decided to keep the key rate at 16% a year. It had been raised to this level on 15 December 2023. The first rise in the rate in 2023 was on 21 July. It was increased from 7.5 to 8.5%. Later, the regulator raised the key rate another four times.