China News Agency, Moscow, December 16 (Reporter Tian Bing) The Central Bank of Russia announced on the 16th that it will continue to maintain the benchmark interest rate of 7.5%.

　　The Central Bank of Russia explained that the price increase in Russia is currently moderate, consumer demand is limited, and the inflation expectations of residents and businesses remain high without significant changes.

At the same time, due to factors such as labor market shortages, deteriorating foreign trade conditions, and loosening of budgetary policies, inflationary pressures are intensifying, which will lead to an increase in the upward risk of inflation and outweigh the risk of deflation.

　　The Russian central bank pointed out that in the future, it will further determine the trend of the benchmark interest rate based on the actual trend of inflation and expected goals, the process of economic restructuring, risk assessment of internal and external conditions, and financial market responses.

　　The Russian central bank also predicts that under the current monetary policy, Russia's inflation rate will drop to 5%-7% in 2023 and the target value of 4% in 2024.

As of December 12, Russia's annual inflation rate was 12.7%, which has dropped significantly compared to the peak this spring.

The Russian central bank assessed the current inflationary pressures as "generally moderate".

　　The Russian central bank stated that the external conditions of the Russian economy are still complex and have greatly restricted economic activities, especially in the field of logistics.

At the current stage, the possibility of expanding production in the Russian economy is largely limited by labor shortages.

The structure of aggregate demand is changing in the context of rebalancing the economy, consumer demand remains subdued, investment demand from the private sector is slowing in the context of expanding state investment, while the contribution of budgetary policies to domestic demand dynamics is increasing.

　　The Bank of Russia stated that changes in economic development and inflation largely depend on decisions made in the field of budgetary policy.

The Bank of Russia made the above decision based on the medium-term trajectory of the federal budget and the entire budgetary system.

If the budget deficit widens further, tighter monetary policy may be required to achieve the expected inflation target of 4% in 2024 and keep it around 4% going forward.

The next meeting of the Russian central bank's board of directors is scheduled for February 10 next year.

　　On February 28 this year, the Russian central bank raised the benchmark interest rate from 9.5% to 20%.

On April 8, the Russian central bank began to gradually lower the benchmark interest rate - from 20% to 17%, on April 29 from 17% to 14%, on May 26 from 14% to 11%, on June 10 From 11% to 9.5%, on July 22 from 9.5% to 8%, on September 16 from 8% to 7.5%.

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