On 6 September 2019, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to cut the key rate by 25 bp to 7.00% per annum. Inflation slowdown is continuing. At the same time, inflation expectations remain elevated. The Russian economy’s growth rate is still coming in lower than the Bank of Russia’s expectations. Risks of a global economic slowdown have increased. Risks of inflation accelerating or slowing down by the year-end are balanced. In these circumstances and taking actual inflation dynamics into account, the Bank of Russia has lowered its end-of-year annual inflation forecast for 2019 from 4.2-4.7% to 4.0-4.5%. ... (full story)