OREANDA-NEWS   Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank (CB) Alexey Zabotkin predicted an increase in the key rate by the end of the year in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.

As Zabotkin noted, the lower limit of the forecast range of the key rate until the end of the year (8.5 percent) allows that the rate will remain unchanged. 

The Deputy chairman stressed that disinflationary risks, which are currently not observed, should be realized for the rate to remain unchanged. He noted that the monetary policy of the regulator is aimed at returning and stabilizing inflation at the target level of 4 percent over the long-term horizon. Therefore, the amount of the rate increase required to solve this problem is realized. "And based on all the prerequisites, it is highly likely that more than one July increase will be required," he concluded.

On August 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on the development of the construction industry that the Central Bank had raised its key rate in response to rising prices. He also appealed to the government with a proposal to work out ideas on this issue.