MOSCOW, April 26 (Reuters) - Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina gave a news conference on Friday after the central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 16%.
Nabiullina spoke in Russian. The quotes below were translated into English by Reuters.
NABIULLINA ON THE RATE DECISION
"Most meeting participants were in favour of holding the rate. And all agreed that room for cutting the rate has become smaller. But there were some opinions in favour of raising the rate."
NABIULLINA ON MONETARY POLICY
"Under the basic scenario, the economy will start to move towards more balanced growth rates in the second quarter. The gap between demand and supply will gradually decrease, supporting the slowdown of price dynamics.
In that case, the accumulated rate increases will be enough to bring inflation close to the target level by the end of this year. Under such a scenario, rate cuts will begin in the second half of this year."
NABIULLINA ON THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY
"We continue to think that the peak of overheating passed last autumn, but overheating persists. This means that demand grows faster than supply can possibly grow. We think this gap will shrink under the influence of monetary policy and this process will be accompanied by the reduction in persistent inflationary pressure." (Reporting by Reuters Editing by Andrew Osborn)
