Central Bank of Russia board will in Sept assess advisability of rate increase at upcoming meetings

MOSCOW. Aug 29 (Interfax) - The balance of arguments on the movement of the key rate has not changed: the Central Bank of Russia's board of directors will in September assess the advisability of raising it at its upcoming meetings, CBR Deputy Governor Alexei Zabotkin said at a press conference on Thursday.

"The board of directors will be assessing the advisability of further key rate increase at upcoming meetings. This means a rate increase at the next meeting is not inevitable, as you know - it will depend on incoming data. And again, based on what I said a little earlier, the overall balance of arguments for an increase and for no change has seemingly not changed. On the one hand, we have approximately the same dynamics of price growth and some increase in inflation expectations. On the other hand, current data enables us to talk about a certain slowdown in demand and lending growth. We will still receive a lot of new data before September 13," he said.