MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. The Bank of Russia expects low unemployment to persist for quite a long time, the regulator’s chief Elvira Nabiullina said in an interview with RBC business daily.

"There are factors that will persist for a long time, the situation on the labor market, low unemployment in particular. I think that this factor will particularly define the supply possibilities, how fast supply may adjust to demand," she said.

The Central Bank’s monetary policy decisions are not reflected in the economy at once, Nabiullina noted.

"Consumer demand is high indeed though our monetary policy and the key rate influence it directly. The impact of our decisions on the economy is lagged as this is a long chain, the key rate hike followed by an increase in market rates on deposits, loans. This impacts the volumes of deposits, loans, changes people’s behavior as they will spend or save and so on. And only after that [the monetary policy] impacts prices. We estimate those lags at 3-6 quarters," she explained.