Russia hikes interest rates by 100bps, meeting forecasts

ANKARA

Russia’s central bank hiked its key interest rate by 100 basis points on Friday, meeting the market forecast.

The key rate was increased to 13% per annum to reduce the inflationary pressure in the economy.

In its latest meeting in August, the Bank of Russia held an “unscheduled key rate meeting” and raised its key rate by 350 basis points to 12% to support weakening ruble.

"The return of inflation to the target and its further stabilization close to 4% also implies that tight monetary conditions will be maintained in the economy for a long period," the bank said in a statement.

The bank raised its inflation forecast for this year to 6%-7% and kept the 4% target for 2024.

Russia's annual inflation rate rose to a six-month high of 5.2% in August from 4.3% in July.