Central Bank may ease monetary policy - ministry
MOSCOW. Sept 24 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia has the opportunity to ease monetary-financing policy amid reduced inflation, Oleg Zasov, the director of the Economic Development Ministry's macroeconomic forecasting department, reckons.
"The Central Bank will have the opportunity amid lower inflation to ease the policy and maintain the rise in retail financing at 20%," he said, speaking at a Fitch Ratings conference on forecasts for the macroeconomic situation and the banking sector in Russia. Growth of real sector financing should be 15%-16% in the next three years, the ministry says.
Financing terms will ease, he said later to the press. "We think the Central Bank will have the chance, first of all, to soften monetary-financing policy. But, also, there are various measures like reducing financing risks, various non-quantitative measures, like increasing accessibility to financing for companies," Zasov said.
"With a sufficiently low rise in consumer demand and reduced inflation, the Central Bank will be able to cut interest rates," he said.
Inflation is slowing and the potential for lower interest rates exists, agreed the director of the Finance Ministry's long-term strategy planning department, Maksim Oreshkin.