Russian central bank: further rate cut possible in 2025

Russia's central bank may be able to cut its key interest rate from 18% this year if inflation slows rapidly, but it does not rule out holding it at that level in order to achieve a sustainable slowdown in price growth, head of the bank's monetary policy department Andrei Gangan said.

The senior official told the government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta that if events develop favourably, the rate may decrease further this year.

But he said a rate reduction this year was "not a foregone conclusion", and the bank's forecast did not exclude the possibility of keeping the rate at 18%.

"Inflationary risks remain, including from geopolitics, and we will make further decisions cautiously, based on incoming information," Gangan said.