Russia Finance Minister: 2014 Inflation Seen at 11.5 Pct - Interfax
December 25 2014 - 3:42AM
Dow Jones News
MOSCOW--Russia's consumer inflation will exceed earlier
expectations but there is no need to keep interest rates at high
levels for long time, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said
Thursday, Interfax news agency reported.
In an attempt to save the ruble from falling and to tame
inflation, the central bank jacked up the key interest rate by 6.5
percentage points to 17% last week. The move sent interbank
overnight lending rates toward 25% from around 11% earlier this
month.
Mr. Siluanov said the government together with the central bank
will work on ways to lower lending rates for key sectors and
companies in the economy.
Mr. Siluanov also said that 2014 consumer inflation is set to
reach 11.5%, nearly doubling the central bank's initial inflation
ceiling of 6.5%.
Write to Andrey Ostroukh at andrey.ostroukh@wsj.com