The Bank of Russia on 11 December 2015 decided to keep the base interest rate unchanged at 11%, thus indicating that the bank will not move forward with easing monetary policy. Russia's Central Bank on 14 December resumed 12-month foreign exchange repo auctions with a view to pushing down demand...

Russia's balance of payments data for Q3 2015 show a considerable decline in her current account balance. In monetary terms, the decline in imports during Q3 was faster than that in exports (relative to Q3 2014). By comparison with Q2 2015, it even demonstrated a slight increase, notwithstanding...

Russia's current account balance went negative in Q2 2017 due to a growth in imports of goods driven by a strengthening Russian rouble, seasonal growth in imports of services and investment income payments amid stagnating exports of goods after the rising oil price trend grinded to a halt....

In 2016, the Bank of Russia implemented a conservative monetary policy aimed at mitigating inflation. Commercial banks decreased their demand for central bank refinancing as the Reserve Fund was spent, in which case the central bank had to employ a set of instruments to prevent an increase in...

On 30 April 2015, the Bank of Russia reduced the key interest rate from 14% to 12.5% per annum, noting in this connection that the inflation risks had become less pronounced, but that the risks of a more significant cooling of the economy were still there. By all indications, the RF Central Bank...

The key factor in the strengthening of the real exchange rate of the ruble in the 2000s was the transformation based growth of Russia's economy (the Balassa-Samuelson effect) coupled with the improving foreign trade conditions. As can be concluded on the basis of data for Q4 2014, for the...

Due to the turmoil in the foreign exchange market, the Bank of Russia lifted on the 16th of December the key interest rate up to 17% p.a. in an effort to stop the ruble's rapid depreciation. In December 2014, the consumer price index stood at 2.6% (0.5% in December 2013 ), up 1.3 p.p. above the...

In June, the Russian Central Bank, for the first time since summer 2015, decided to reduce the key interest rate by 0.5 percentage points, to 10.5%. The decline in inflation expectations, further slowdown in inflation and stabilization of the external environment, together with the...

The Russian current account balance rose in Q2 2018 year-on-year on the back of, among other things, rising positive balance of trade. Non-residents reduced their holdings of OFZ bonds over downbeat geopolitical expectations. Some extra growth in the current account balance can be expected in...

The Bank of Russia decided in June to keep the key interest rate unchanged because of worsening geopolitical uncertainty, capital outflows from developing countries as a consequence of tighter US Fed's monetary policy, plans to raise the VAT rate, as well as prices adjustment to a weaker rouble....