VTB forecasts that the Central Bank's key rate will remain at 21% for the whole year

The Central Bank of Russia will keep the key rate at 21% until the end of 2025. This forecast was made on February 25 by First Deputy President and Chairman of the Management Board of VTB Dmitry Pyanov.

"We forecast that it will last for 2025, but the dawn is near. So I don't think we will live through the whole of 2026 already with such rates," he said during a call with analysts. He was quoted as saying

According to him, the tightness of monetary policy has reached its maximum at the moment. According to Pyanov's presentation, Russian GDP growth will exceed 2% by the end of 2025, and inflation will be within 7-10%.

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On February 14, the Central Bank of Russia kept the key rate at 21% per annum. It is specified that the Bank of Russia will assess the expediency of its increase at the next meeting on March 21.

In his turn, Alexey Lossan, an expert of "Compare" company, told "Izvestia" that keeping the key rate will allow to restrain inflation without exerting excessive pressure on business. According to him, we should not expect a decrease in loan and deposit rates yet.