Governor of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiulina said today it was doing its best to rein in the country's accelerating inflation, which reached 8.5 percent in October before becoming "chronic," it said France Press, quoted by BTA.
Russia's central bank raised its key interest rate from 19 percent to 21 percent in late October, the highest level since 2003, in an effort to curb price growth that has led to discontent among many entrepreneurs. worried about the further increase in the cost of credits.
"Our policy is aimed at limiting the increase in prices, without which sustainable economic growth is impossible," Nabiulina told the Russian deputies.
"People are very concerned again. The worst affected are the poor - those whose incomes are not increasing or not as fast as in general statistics," she added.
The governor of the country's central bank added that it is "obliged" to "act decisively so that this disease (inflation) does not become chronic". She defended her position aimed at ensuring "economic stability" rather than "stronger economic growth". at any cost.
Nabiulina expressed regret that she "does not see any delay" in the volume of loans taken by businesses - a factor that fuels the inflationary spiral.
For several months, the price increase in Russia has been around 8-9 percent, or double the target stated by the authorities.
At the same time, economic growth slowed to 3.1 percent in the third quarter, according to data from Russia's statistical office "Rosstat". This, according to many experts, raises concerns about the potential emergence in the medium term of a cycle of stagflation (when the economy suffers from high inflation and very low growth at the same time), according to AFP.
"This risk does not exist" at this stage, assured Nabiulina.
Inflation, which is squeezing Russians' purchasing power, is fueled in particular by rising wages, a direct consequence of labor shortages in the labor market, with companies having to offer attractive remuneration to attract workers.
This shortage is the result of the mobilization at the front in Ukraine or the departure abroad of hundreds of thousands of men from February 2022. this way.
Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of Russian businesses currently suffer from this labor shortage, with unemployment at a historic low of 2.4 percent, a symptom of this larger problem, Elvira Nabiulina pointed out.