The head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs allowed the rate to be maintained or increased at the next meeting of the Central Bank

At its meeting on July 24, the Central Bank of Russia will at best keep the key rate level at the same values. This was announced on July 7 by Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).

"The July meeting of the board of directors will, at best, keep the bet, as far as the comments of the participants in the previous meeting can be understood," he said in an interview with Interfax.

Shokhin did not rule out Given the situation on the fuel market, the Central Bank may preemptively raise the key rate to contain inflationary risks and prevent a disruption of seasonal deflation in August. However, according to the head of the union, such a step on the part of the regulator is impractical.

The head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs emphasized that attempts to stabilize the situation exclusively with monetary instruments in conditions when price increases are caused by non-monetary factors usually turn out to be ineffective and do not bring the expected result.

The inflationary challenge: what will happen to rising prices and interest rates

The Bank of Russia may pause the monetary policy easing cycle.

On July 2, the Chairman of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, said that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation sees room for lowering the key rate in July, while the timing and pace of monetary policy easing will depend on the development of the economic situation. She also noted that the secondary effects of the situation on the fuel market may affect the decision on the key rate.

On June 19, the Central Bank decided to reduce the key rate by 25 basis points to 14.25%. As noted in the regulator, the trend towards easing monetary conditions remains, but their overall level remains tight. The head of Sberbank, German Gref, said on June 30 that the Russian economy was already supercooled, and the Central Bank's key rate needed to be lowered.