MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. The Central Bank maintains the key rate due to the threat of inflation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

"We see and the Central Bank certainly sees these trends aimed at the inflation decline, although risks still exist, and that is why they keep it [the key rate]. Probably, if taking a different path, the situation may occur as in some neighboring countries, where inflation has the double-digit values," the President said.

"And it is kept there, despite the fact that the key rate is lifted there exponentially. But they nevertheless crossed a certain threshold and cannot now cope with that. I think you know who I mean, our friends, Turkey, for example," the head of state noted.