The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is weighing a potential reduction in its key policy rate from the current 16 percent in the near term. Officials argue that previous tightening steps are already showing visible results: consumer demand has cooled, and inflation expectations have eased in February. Anatoly Aksakov, who chairs the State Duma Financial Market Committee, shared this view during discussions with socialbites.ca and suggested a gradual easing carried out in increments of half a percentage point to one percentage point.
