MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. The Bank of Russia expects inflation to seriously slow down in the second half of this year, the regulator’s Governor Elvira Nabiullina told a press conference following the meeting of its board of directors.

"Inflation outlook for this year has been ungraded to 6.5-7%. Those figures consider high accumulated inflation in the first half and suggest its serious slowdown in the second half of the year under the influence of tight monetary policy," she said.

The first weeks of July showed increased inflation pressure persisting. Meanwhile households’ inflation expectations have been rising for three consecutive months already, companies’ price expectations also remain higher, while expectations of professional analysts for 2025 have started deviating from the target, Nabiullina noted.

Next year inflation is projected to decrease to 4.5-5% and to remain close to 4% in the future, she added.

Earlier on Friday the board of directors of the Bank of Russia decided to increase the key rate for the first time since December 2023 - by 200 basis points to 18% per annum, saying that inflation has accelerated and is developing significantly above the regulator’s April forecast. The Bank of Russia noted that it would consider the necessity of further key rate increase at its upcoming meetings.