Showing posts with label bankofRussia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bankofRussia. Show all posts

Monday, 23 September 2013

Russia Central Bank holds rate, signals steady policy during 2nd week of September

Russia's central bank held its benchmark refinancing rate steady at 8.25 percent, saying it expects inflation to return to its target by the end of the year and continue to decline next year under the current monetary policy stance, signaling that rates are likely to remain steady.
    The Bank of Russia, which has held its refinancing rate steady since September 2012, also took a major step forward in its move toward an inflation-targeting regime on February 1, 2014, introducing a key policy rate within an interest rate corridor to manage liquidity in the banking sector.
    As part of the preparations for the new policy regime, the central bank cut the rate on overnight loans and one-day loans secured by non-marketable assets for 1 day to 6.50 percent from 8.25 percent and 6.75 percent, respectively, raised the rate on one-week deposit auctions to 5.50 percent from 5.0 percent, and auctioned loans, secured by non-marketable assets for 3 months with a floating rate.
    "This decision is based on the assessment of inflation risks and economic growth prospects and implies unchanged monetary policy stance," the central bank said.
    Russia's inflation rate was steady at 6.5 percent in August from July and has exceeded the central bank's 5-6 percent target range for 12 months. But the central bank estimated inflation at 6.3 percent as of Sept. 9 as it continues to decline due to an expected improvement in this year's harvest, which should push inflation to the bank's target by the end of this year. 

    "Given an unchanged monetary policy stance and a continuation of the current macroeconomic tendencies, inflation will continue to decline in 2014," the central bank said.
    In August a decline in food inflation was partially offset by higher gasoline prices and some regulated prices but "the absence of significant demand-side inflationary pressure with gross output staying slightly below its potential level is considered one of the factors fueling a decline in core CPI in recent months," the bank said.
    At the end of August,  the core inflation annual rate was at 5.5 percent.
    Russia's economic growth has slowed sharply in the last year and the central bank said growth of Gross Domestic Product decreased "substantially"  in the second quarter, mainly due to a decline in manufacturing and construction.  Consumer demand remains the main driver of growth and unemployment is still at a relatively low level, the bank said.
    "According to Bank of Russia estimates, the risks of persistently low economic growth continued to be related to subdued investment activity and sluggish recovery of external demand," the central bank said.
    Russia's GDP expanded by an annual 1.2 percent in the second quarter, down from 1.6 percent in the first quarter, continuing the decline seen in the last five quarters.
    The central bank forecasts growth of 2.4 percent this year, down from 3.4 percent in 2012.
    The Bank of Russia has been preparing to shift to an inflation-targeting regime next year and said one-week, auction-based operations will become the main policy instrument from Feb. 1, 2014 when its stops conducting one-day repo auctions on a daily basis and starts using 1-6 day repo auctions as a fine-tuning operation in the event of sharp changes in banks' liquidity.
    The rate on the new key policy rate, the one-week liquidity provision, is currently 5.5 percent.
    In the new interest rate corridor, the rates on one-day liquidity provisions and absorption standing facilities are set at an upper limit of 6.50 percent and a lower limit of 4.50 percent.
     "Standing facility liquidity provision operations will be conducted for one day only and collateralised by different types of assets (securities, credit claims, promissory notes, guarantees, gold, foreign currency). The single interest rate on these instruments will form the upper border of Bank of Russia interest rate corridor," the bank said.
    From Feb. 1, the bank will suspend all standing facilities for terms exceeding one day, along with Lombard loans for all terms and 3-12 month repo auctions.
    In addition to the main open market and standing facility liquidity operations, the bank will regularly conduct auctions for 3-month loans, with a floating interest rate that is linked to the key rate. Currently, the minimum spread on the key rate rate is 0.25 percentage points but this will also be set in the future.   
Russia's central bank held its benchmark refinancing rate steady at 8.25 percent, saying it expects inflation to return to its target by the end of the year and continue to decline next year under the current monetary policy stance, signaling that rates are likely to remain steady.
    The Bank of Russia, which has held its refinancing rate steady since September 2012, also took a major step forward in its move toward an inflation-targeting regime on February 1, 2014, introducing a key policy rate within an interest rate corridor to manage liquidity in the banking sector.
    As part of the preparations for the new policy regime, the central bank cut the rate on overnight loans and one-day loans secured by non-marketable assets for 1 day to 6.50 percent from 8.25 percent and 6.75 percent, respectively, raised the rate on one-week deposit auctions to 5.50 percent from 5.0 percent, and auctioned loans, secured by non-marketable assets for 3 months with a floating rate.
    "This decision is based on the assessment of inflation risks and economic growth prospects and implies unchanged monetary policy stance," the central bank said.
    Russia's inflation rate was steady at 6.5 percent in August from July and has exceeded the central bank's 5-6 percent target range for 12 months. But the central bank estimated inflation at 6.3 percent as of Sept. 9 as it continues to decline due to an expected improvement in this year's harvest, which should push inflation to the bank's target by the end of this year. 

    "Given an unchanged monetary policy stance and a continuation of the current macroeconomic tendencies, inflation will continue to decline in 2014," the central bank said.
    In August a decline in food inflation was partially offset by higher gasoline prices and some regulated prices but "the absence of significant demand-side inflationary pressure with gross output staying slightly below its potential level is considered one of the factors fueling a decline in core CPI in recent months," the bank said.
    At the end of August,  the core inflation annual rate was at 5.5 percent.
    Russia's economic growth has slowed sharply in the last year and the central bank said growth of Gross Domestic Product decreased "substantially"  in the second quarter, mainly due to a decline in manufacturing and construction.  Consumer demand remains the main driver of growth and unemployment is still at a relatively low level, the bank said.
    "According to Bank of Russia estimates, the risks of persistently low economic growth continued to be related to subdued investment activity and sluggish recovery of external demand," the central bank said.
    Russia's GDP expanded by an annual 1.2 percent in the second quarter, down from 1.6 percent in the first quarter, continuing the decline seen in the last five quarters.
    The central bank forecasts growth of 2.4 percent this year, down from 3.4 percent in 2012.
    The Bank of Russia has been preparing to shift to an inflation-targeting regime next year and said one-week, auction-based operations will become the main policy instrument from Feb. 1, 2014 when its stops conducting one-day repo auctions on a daily basis and starts using 1-6 day repo auctions as a fine-tuning operation in the event of sharp changes in banks' liquidity.


    The rate on the new key policy rate, the one-week liquidity provision, is currently 5.5 percent.
    In the new interest rate corridor, the rates on one-day liquidity provisions and absorption standing facilities are set at an upper limit of 6.50 percent and a lower limit of 4.50 percent.
     "Standing facility liquidity provision operations will be conducted for one day only and collateralised by different types of assets (securities, credit claims, promissory notes, guarantees, gold, foreign currency). The single interest rate on these instruments will form the upper border of Bank of Russia interest rate corridor," the bank said.
    From Feb. 1, the bank will suspend all standing facilities for terms exceeding one day, along with Lombard loans for all terms and 3-12 month repo auctions.
    In addition to the main open market and standing facility liquidity operations, the bank will regularly conduct auctions for 3-month loans, with a floating interest rate that is linked to the key rate. Currently, the minimum spread on the key rate rate is 0.25 percentage points but this will also be set in the future.   


Russia holds rate, signals steady policy, new 2014 rate - Central Bank News

for more details log on to Bank of Russia website : http://www.cbr.ru/eng/

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

Russia Central Bank holds rate

Russia's central bank maintained its policy rate at 8.25 percent, as expected, along with its outlook, saying that "the risks of further economic slowdown remain given the weak investment activity and the sluggish recovery in external demand."
    The Bank of Russia, which last cut rates in September 2012, added that it would "continue to monitor inflation risks and the downside risks to economic growth," indicating that a rate cut is not immediate.
   Although economic growth remains low, the bank said the fall in the growth rates of some indicators in May was partly due to calendar effects and "labour market conditions and credit dynamics are still providing support to domestic demand."
    While economists had expected the Bank of Russia to hold rates steady, the outcome of the meeting was highly anticipated because it was the first board meeting chaired by the new governor, Elvira Nabiullina, former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nabiullina took over from Sergei Ignatyev who retired after 11 years as governor.
    While the central bank's economic outlook was a replica of its June statement, it dropped the warning that inflationary expectations could be affected if inflation remains high for a prolonged period.

    Another change during Nabiullina's first meeting was that the board now provides an exact date for its next meeting compared with a more vague indication in the past, and added a new instrument to its tool box for providing funds to banks.
    Beginning next week, the Bank of Russia will provide banks with funds, secured by non-marketable assets and guarantees, for 12 months with a floating interest rate at 5.75 percent. By reducing the market collateral held by the central bank, this should improve the efficiency of the interbank market.
    "The conduct of the longer-term operations with floating rate will contribute to intensifying the monetary policy signal as the changes in interest rates will be transmitted to the change of the cost of funds, previously provided by the Bank of Russia to credit institutions," the central bank said.
    Russia's inflation rate fell to 6.9 percent in June from 7.4 percent in May, but was still above the central bank's target range of 5-6 percent.
    As of July 8, inflation was estimated a 6.6 percent, the bank said, adding that core inflation in June was 5.8 percent.
    The central bank repeated that it still expects inflation to return to its target range in the second half of the year, barring any adverse food price shocks.
    Russia's economy shrunk in the first quarter with the Gross Domestic Product falling 0.07 percent from the fourth quarter for annual growth of only 1.6 percent, down from 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter and the fifth quarter with a declining growth rate.
    In June, Nabiullina said in an interview with Reuters that interest rats could be cut in the third quarter of this year but only if inflation is clearly falling.

Russia holds rate, repeats risks of economic slowdown - Central Bank News

for more details log on to Bank of Russia website : http://www.cbr.ru/eng/