Moscow-Sana
Today, the Russian Central Bank reduced the main interest rate by 3 percentage points to the level of 14 percent annually, and the decision came as a surprise to the markets and was bold in its timing.
And the Russian Central said in a statement after its board meeting today that “the regulatory decision regarding the main interest rate and the government program for concessional lending will limit the scale of the decline in economic activity.”
The central bank hinted at the possibility of implementing further cuts to the main interest rate during the current year, and said, "The main rate on average for 2022 will be between 12.5 and 14 percent."
The bank expected that inflation in Russia during the current year will be in the range of 18 to 23 percent, and it also expected that the Russian economy will decline during the same period by 8 to 10 percent, and in the next year 2023 it will be in the range of 3 percent, with the growth of Russia’s gross domestic product in the year 2024 by 2.5 to 3.5 percent.
The Russian Central Bank's decision to cut the main interest rate surprised the markets, according to experts, who expected the Central Bank to reduce interest rates to a level between 15 and 15.5 percent.
Follow Sana's news on Telegram https://t.me/SyrianArabNewsAgency