Sounding for all the world like the IMF bureaucrats meeting in Washington, D.C. on April 24-25, Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina said at a Moscow press conference after a meeting of the Bank’s Board that they would keep the key rate at 21%, arguing that high interest rates are a “prescription drug” against inflation “that was and is successfully used by central banks in many countries.” According to a report in TASS, Nabiullina also warned that “any delay or insufficient ‘dosage’ may only make the situation worse … [and that] it will be needed to keep stringent monetary conditions for a long period of time.”
Patting herself on the back, Nabiullina asserted that central bank autonomy is “an indicator of maturity of the economic policy” in the country.
