MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. The Bank of Russia does not rule out lowering the inflation target to 3%, but only after inflation and inflation expectations stabilize at 4%, Deputy Chairman of the regulator Alexey Zabotkin told a press conference.

"As a result of our research and public discussions as part of the monetary policy review, we believe that the conditions for reducing the inflation target to 3% in the Russian economy formed at the end of 2021, but this decision should be made when inflation and the level of inflation expectations will meet the current inflation target of 4%," he said.

As Zabotkin noted, when inflation stabilizes at 4%, it will be possible to additionally assess the feasibility of lowering the target.

"If a decision is made that the target inflation rate can be set lower than 4%, then the transition to it will be extended in time and take several years," he concluded, adding that all current decisions on monetary policy proceed from the fact that the inflation target remains at the level of 4% over the entire forecast period.