Russia lowers key lending rate to 6 pct

Source: Xinhua | 2020-02-08

The Russian central bank on Friday cut its key lending rate by 0.25 percentage point to 6 percent as inflation slowdown kept "overshooting the forecast."

The bank attributed the weak inflation to expanded supply of foodstuffs, which contributed to a decline in food prices and ruble appreciation. This limited the growth in import prices, and led to subdued demand.

The year-on-year inflation declined to 2.7 percent in January from 3.1 percent in December, said the bank, which kept its inflation forecast for 2020 at 3.5-4 percent.

The bank also maintained its forecast for gross domestic product growth at 1.5-2 percent in 2020, 1.5-2.5 percent in 2021 and 2-3 percent in 2022, compared with 1.3 percent in 2019.