Central Bank sees room to lower rate at June meeting, 100 bps cut is one of options on table
MOSCOW. June 5 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) sees room to lower its key rate at its June 19 board meeting; a cut of 100 basis points is one of the options on the table, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said during an online press conference.
"Price growth is slowing more quickly than we anticipated during our rate discussion on April 24, aided by the ruble's appreciation amid the headlong recovery for oil prices in the past month. But the decisive factor for price growth will still be muted demand, both domestic and external. The PMI data also indicate a prevalence of disinflationary tendencies. The PMI services sector price sub-indices have shown growth for costs to be growing and decline for wholesale prices to be accelerating as competition strengthens. Factory-gate prices had not been as low as this since 2009," Nabiullina said.
"On the whole, data on both the economy and inflation confirm our opinion that there is significant room to lower the key rate," she said.
"The option to lower the rate by 100 bps will be considered among other options at the board meeting. But we'll be reaching our decision on the basis of the data that have already come in, and of the adjustment to our forecast estimates for inflation and GDP," she said.