Russia's central bank has raised its key interest rate by one percentage point to 10.5% as it steps up the fight to tackle inflation.
It comes just six weeks after it raised the rate to 9.5% from 8%.
The bank's official website added that it would continue raising the rate "in case of further aggravation of inflation risks".
In its monthly economic update the Bank of Russia also said that, as of 8 December, annual inflation was 9.4%.
A weak rouble and a ban on western food imports has kept inflation high.
Meanwhile, the rouble hit new lows after the rates decision, and was trading at 55.45 against the dollar and 68.98 against the euro not long after the bank's announcement.
The rate hike comes a day after the bank admitted it had intervened to support the rouble in foreign currency markets last week, spending a total of $4.53bn (£2.9bn).
It has spent more than $70bn supporting the rouble since the start of the year.
The Bank of Russia also said on Thursday that GDP growth would be weak during 2015-16, as consumer activity weakened.
The World Bank has previously warned that the Russian economy will shrink by at least 0.7% in 2015 if oil prices do not recover.
BBC News
No comments:
Post a Comment