A soft monetary policy of the Central Bank should help pass the crisis and bring the banking sector into a qualitatively different state of low interest rates. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with bankers on Monday, February 1.
“General easing of monetary policy, it certainly should contribute to the confident passage of the crisis, but it should also bring the Russian banking sector, in fact, this has already happened, in a qualitatively different state – in a situation of relatively low interest rates,” the president said.
He called it “a correct and necessary trend” when “borrowed funds for the expansion and development of production, for the creation of new jobs, become more affordable.”
At the February or March meeting of the board of directors, the Bank of Russia will cut the key rate by 0.25 pp, to 4%, according to eight of the 14 experts interviewed by Izvestia from the largest Russian banks and analytical agencies.
Experts believe the decision will be made amid a slowdown in price growth, a strong ruble and ongoing coronavirus restrictions. But at the end of this year, according to experts from the largest banks and analytical agencies, the regulator will begin to raise the key rate to a “neutral” range of 5-6%.