MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s economy minister Maxim Reshetnikov said on Tuesday that the central bank should ease monetary policy in a timely manner in order to achieve growth of 3%, a target set by President Vladimir Putin.
Reshetnikov’s comments came before the central bank reviews its key interest rate on June 6. A Reuters poll of 26 economists has predicted that the regulator will keep the key rate on hold at 21%.
Economists expect Russian economic growth to slow to 1.5% in 2025 from 4.3% last year. The government forecasts 2.5% GDP growth this year.
“The current task is to navigate the cooling-off period. We are counting on a timely easing of monetary policy to maintain the targeted 3% growth rate outlined by the president in the future,” Reshetnikov said.
The minister said that output was falling in an increasing number of real economy sectors while a slowdown in lending was hitting demand for engineering products, special equipment, freight transport, light commercial vehicles and buses.
The central bank is under pressure from businesses to start cutting the key rate. However Governor Elvira Nabiullina has resisted the pressure, arguing that the bank needs to see a sustainable disinflationary trend before it can begin to ease rates.
(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya, writing by Gleb BryanskiEditing by Andrew Osborn and Gareth Jones)
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