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Bank of Russia considered raising key rate by 100 basis points — head of regulator

On Friday, the Bank of Russia increased the key rate to 7.5% per annum

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. The Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia at a meeting on October 22 considered the option of raising the key rate by 100 basis points (bp) at once, the regulator’s Governor Elvira Nabiullina said at a press conference.

"This option was considered. We considered many options, and among them was increasing the key rate by 100 basis points," she said.

Earlier on Friday, the Bank of Russia increased the key rate for the sixth time in a row - by 0.75 percentage points to 7.5% per annum, adding that it holds open the prospect of further key rate rises at upcoming meetings. "On 22 October 2021, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to increase the key rate by 75 b.p. to 7.50% per annum," the regulator said in a statement following its board meeting on Friday.

The regulator’s decision turned out tougher than market projections due to the dynamics of inflation, which is developing substantially above the regulator’s forecast. Meanwhile the contribution of persistent factors to inflation remains considerable on the back of faster growth in demand relative to output expansion capacity, the Bank of Russia explained.

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