OREANDA-NEWS. August 12, 2011. The Central Bank of Russia's (CBR) board of directors decided to leave its refinancing rate at 8.25%, CBR said in a statement. Other rates on CBR's transactions have also remained unchanged.

The annualized inflation rate has continued to slow down to 9% in June 2011 from 9.4% in June 2010. Food prices have substantially contributed to lower inflation. A good grain harvest outlook and the overall situation on global food markets is helping to reduce inflationary risks, CBR said.

Macroeconomic indicators in June have shown the improvement of the economic situation, but risks to sustainable economic growth remain in place. Industrial output has picked up for the first time this year and the unemployment rate has fallen mainly owing to seasonal factors. Fixed asset investment continued to rise after declining at the beginning of this year. However, a fall in its annualized growth in June compared to May reflects an unsustainable growth trend.

The next meeting at which the CBR's board of directors intends to examine its monetary policy is scheduled for September. The last time CBR raised the refinancing rate was in late April. The rate was hiked by 0.25 percentage points to the current level of 8.25%.