MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. Sberbank’s analysts expect the period of high rates in the Russian economy to last longer than previously projected, with the Central Bank’s key rate standing at 13% as of the end of this year, head of the bank’s finance department Taras Skvortsov said.

"We have revised our key rate outlook. We expect the period of high rates to last slightly longer and the key rate to stand at 13% as of the end of 2024," he said.

Sberbank keeps its financial projections so far, Skvortsov said, adding that the lender would consider the possibility of their upgrade following the results of Q1 2024.

According to the presentation, Sberbank has upgraded its outlook on the country’s GDP growth for 2024 from 1.7% to 2.8%, while inflation outlook has been downgraded to 4-5% from 5-7%.

"The situation with a long period of high rates is unusual for the economy, though clients both in the corporate and retail segment service their loans even better than we expected earlier. The demand for loans is falling as you see," Skvortsov added.