Medium-term inflation target should be 2%-2.5% - Kudrin
MOSCOW. Jan 13 (Interfax) - Russia's inflation target in the medium-term outlook should be lowered to 2%-2.5% from the current 4%, former finance minister and current Center for Strategic Research chairman Alexei Kudrin said at the Gaidar Forum on Friday.
"A key for monetary policy is holding inflation below 4%. Today we have set the goal of 4% for three years. But even in the medium-term outlook, we must get down to 2%-2.5%," Kudrin said.
This will reduce the cost of financial resources in the country and pave the way for direct money, he said.
The Central Bank of Russia expects inflation to fall to 4% at the end of 2017 and to remain there in 2018-2019.
"Our target in the short-term outlook is 4% and our main goal is to return inflation to 4% if there is a deviation owing to any sort of shock. If it deviates to the low side due to any long-lasting factors, we will strive to return it to 4%," Central Bank First Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudayeva told journalists on the sidelines of the Gaidar Forum on Thursday.
For the Central Bank, it is very important to keep inflation as near as possible to 4%, she said.
Inflation in 2016, 5.4%, was the lowest in Russia's post-Soviet history. Inflation was 12.9% in 2015, 11.4% in 2014, 6.5% in 2013, 6.6% in 2012 and 6.1% in 2011 (a record low at the time).
