FILE PHOTO: A Russian flag flies over Russian Central Bank headquarters in Moscow, Russia December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
May 22, 2020
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s economy could contract by more than 8% in the second quarter of 2020, central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Friday, adding that the bank would revise its most recent gross domestic product forecast.
Nabiullina said cutting Russia’s benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points from 5.5% will be considered in June.
On inflation, Nabiullina said the bank’s year-end forecast was 3.8-4.8%, with peak annual inflation expected in the summer.
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh and Elena Fabrichnaya, Writing by Alexander Marrow, Editing by Catherine Evans)
