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Bank of Russia raises key rate to 7% PA

The earlier key rate of 5.5% per annum was established on February 14, 2014

Bank of Russia building in Moscow ITAR-TASS/Sergei Bobylev

Bank of Russia building in Moscow

© ITAR-TASS/Sergei Bobylev

MOSCOW, March 03. /ITAR-TASS/. The Bank of Russia has temporarily raised the key rate from the current 5.5% to 7.0% per annum, the regulator announced in a press release on Monday.

The decision is to prevent the inflation and financial stability’s risks caused by recent higher volatility at financial markets.

The earlier key rate of 5.5% per annum was established on February 14, 2014. A key rate is a weekly repo loan rate.

On February 14, 2014, head of the Russian central bank Elvira Nabiullina did not rule out “the central bank will toughen the monetary policy in case of realistic negative inflation expectations.” She said then that several emerging countries — Turkey, the South African Republic, and India — had raised their key rates to stop weakening national currencies. “Effect from such decisions is not straightforward,” she said. Russia’s economic growth is very slow and higher rates could affect the growth dynamics, she explained. “At present, we do not see possible easing of the monetary policy, though everything will develop on how the situation develops,” she said back in February.

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