Russian Central Bank to start publishing rate discussion summary, will shorten press release and no longer issue monetary policy report

MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax) - The Bank of Russia is transforming the materials it releases following meetings of its board of directors on the key rate, the regulator said in a statement.

The main innovation will be the publication of a key rate discussion summary. As of February 2024, it will be released on the sixth business day after each rate decision. The summary will reflect discussions of the decision during the "week of silence" and at the board meeting itself. The material will highlight the positions of discussion participants on the economic situation and prospects for its development, alternative solutions with arguments for and against, and justification for the decision made. Positions will be presented without highlighting the opinions of individual participants involved in the discussion, the Central Bank said.

In addition, the Bank of Russia will change the format of the key rate press release to make it more concise. Detailed information about the main factors that influenced the decision will be disclosed in the summary. The press release will continue to be published at 1:30 PM Moscow time on the day of the decision.

After key board of directors meetings, the Central Bank will continue to publish the medium-term macroeconomic forecast. The regulator will also post a commentary on the forecast simultaneously with the summary (for key sessions).

The format and time of the Central Bank Chairman's press conference will not change. It will be held at 3:00 PM Moscow time after each meeting.

The Central Bank will no longer publish a monetary policy report, since "the updated set of materials will cover all the essential information" it previously contained.

The decision to change the disclosure format regarding the rate decision was made taking into account the results of research and public consultations on monetary policy review. With these changes, the Central Bank expects to reveal the logic of its decision-making on the rate in more detail and increase the transparency of its monetary policy.