Russian central bank says high inflation a ‘disaster’
Russia’s central bank chief warned Monday that record-breaking inflation was a ‘real disaster’ for the country and urged the government to take action.
Inflation in Russia has been rising
steeply for months, reaching 8.1 per cent year-on-year in October a record
since 2016 and more than double the central bank’s target.
Like around the world, food prices
have skyrocketed, in a blow for a population with little savings.
‘Inflation is
a real disaster that makes people poorer,’ central
bank chief Elvira Nabiullina said in an address to Russia’s lower
house of parliament.
Nabiullina, who is one of the few
officials occasionally critical of government policies that are typically
ordered by President Vladimir Putin, said that ‘high
inflation really destroys prosperity’.
‘Inflation
should return to the four per cent target at any cost,’ she told
the State Duma.
The respected central bank chief has
been sounding the alarm about rising inflation for months, raising the key rate
- currently at 7.5 per cent - several times this year to curb
skyrocketing prices.
She has been critical of government
measures to cap prices of certain goods on Putin’s orders,
and on Monday once again repeated her stance, deeming the move harmful to the
economy.
Sheppherded by Nabiullina, Russia’s central
bank has previously stopped runaway inflation and dragged the country out of
economic crises.
Drastically raising the key rate to
17 per cent in 2014, the central bank successfully curbed inflation after
Russia was faced with a historical collapse of the ruble due to sanctions
imposed over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine
and a drop in oil prices.