{"id":222658,"date":"2025-10-24T12:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T12:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/222658\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T12:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T12:45:10","slug":"russian-central-bank-cuts-key-rate-to-16-5-as-economy-slows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/222658\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Central Bank Cuts Key Rate to 16.5% as Economy Slows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Russian Central Bank on Friday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.ru\/press\/pr\/?file=24102025_133000key.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced<\/a> that it was cutting the key interest rate to 16.5%, down half a percentage point from 17%.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The quarter-point reduction marks the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.interfax.ru\/business\/1054494\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fourth<\/a> consecutive rate cut since June, when the bank began easing policy from a wartime peak of 21%. <\/p>\n<p>Analysts were\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pro.rbc.ru\/demo\/68f218fb9a7947009f08a10d?from=article_body&amp;utm_source=rbc.ru&amp;utm_medium=inhouse_media&amp;utm_campaign=inarticle_68fa60db9a7947b25b1a95e0&amp;utm_content=68f218fb9a7947009f08a10d&amp;utm_term=10.4Z_noauth\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"c-link c-link--underline\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/pro.rbc.ru\/demo\/68f218fb9a7947009f08a10d?from=article_body&amp;utm_source=rbc.ru&amp;utm_medium=inhouse_media&amp;utm_campaign=inarticle_68fa60db9a7947b25b1a95e0&amp;utm_content=68f218fb9a7947009f08a10d&amp;utm_term=10.4Z_noauth\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">split<\/a>\u00a0ahead of the decision. Most expected the bank to hold or cut more aggressively \u2014 underscoring uncertainty over how long tight monetary conditions can coexist with slowing output and record-low unemployment.<\/p>\n<p>The bank\u2019s updated outlook\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.ru\/eng\/press\/pr\/?file=24102025_133000key_e.htm\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"c-link c-link--underline\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.ru\/eng\/press\/pr\/?file=24102025_133000key_e.htm\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">suggests<\/a>\u00a0interest rates will average 13%-15% in 2026, up from the July forecast of 12%-13%, as it battles inflation and a tight labor market.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses have railed against high borrowing costs, which they say are sapping growth and holding the economy back.<\/p>\n<p>But the Central Bank says high rates are needed to bring down inflation that was still above 8% in October, driven by fuel costs and a seasonal jump in food prices.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Central Bank is essentially stating that next year we may see very severe economic stagnation,&#8221; Yevgeny Kogan, an independent economist, wrote on Telegram after the decision.<\/p>\n<p>The regulator said it would keep policy \u201cas tight as necessary\u201d to bring inflation back to its 4% target, a goal it now expects to reach only in 2026-2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFurther decisions on the key rate will be made depending on the sustainability of the inflation slowdown and the dynamics of inflation expectations,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>The Bank expects inflation to stay at 6.5%-7% by the end of 2025, before easing to 4%-5% in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Russia\u2019s MOEX stock index climbed 1.4% to 2,606 after the rate cut but then fell to 2,535 within an hour, its weakest level in more than a week.<\/p>\n<p>The next interest rate decision is due Dec. 19.<\/p>\n<p>AFP contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Russian Central Bank on Friday announced that it was cutting the key interest rate to 16.5%, down&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,6267,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-222658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-central-bank","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}