Russia seen raising rates on Friday amid high inflation, sanctions: Reuters poll By Reuters – Investing.com

Russia seen raising rates on Friday amid high inflation, sanctions: Reuters poll By Reuters – Investing.com

© Reuters. A view shows Russia's Central Bank headquarters in Moscow

By Andrey Ostroukh and Elena Fabrichnaya MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's central bank will raise its key interest rate on Friday by 25 or 50 basis points, amid high inflation and intensified geopolitical risks, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. A rate hike became more necessary recently when the rouble took a hit from a new wave of sanctions and inflation, the central bank's main area of responsibility, showed little signs of slowing. Seventeen of the 29 analysts and economists polled said the central bank would raise the key rate by 25 basis points to 4.75%, as it did in March. Last month the central bank announced its plan to return to a neutral policy rate of 5-6% after slashing the rate to a record low of 4.25% in 2020 to prop up the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a drop in oil prices. Geopolitical risks were not the key factor behind the March rate hike, the bank's head of monetary policy, Kirill Tremasov, said in an interview with Reuters. However, the United States has since barred its banks from buying new state debt directly from Russia from mid-June. The