elvira nabiullina : review of recent inflation developments in russia and economic outlook statement by ms elvira nabiullina, governor of the bank of russia, in the follow - up to the board of directors meeting, moscow, 22 march 2019. * * * today, the bank of russia board of directors decided to keep the key rate at 7. 75 % p. a. we have every reason to believe that the decisions to raise the key rate made last year are most likely to be sufficient to bring annual inflation back to the near 4 % target in the first half of 2020. some indicators have performed better than we expected in december : foreign financial and commodity markets have stabilised, the vat pass - through to prices is quite moderate, and inflation expectations have turned to decline. in these circumstances, inflation stands somewhat below our december forecast, while short - term proinflationary risks have softened. given these trends, we expect end - 2019 inflation to come in at a lower level of 4. 7 - 5. 2 % instead of the 5 - 5. 5 % range forecast earlier. let me set out in further detail the factors that were central to our decision. first, as i have mentioned, annual inflation in january - february proved somewhat lower than we expected at the end of last year, in february, it came in at 5. 2 %. monthly price growth rates have already been going down. annual inflation will pass its peak in march - april on the back of the base effect. our updated estimates suggest that at its highest point inflation may surge to approx. 5. 5 %. you will recall that in december we did not rule out that inflation might considerably exceed this level. there are several reasons for such inflation dynamics. first of all, the contribution of the vat hike to annual inflation currently stands at approx. 0. 6 - 0. 7 pp, which is close to the lower bound of our expectations. according to our estimates, the vat pass - through to prices has already largely materialised. this is suggested by the analysis of prices of goods and services for which the vat was raised. these are mostly non - food goods and services. annual price growth in most of them has accelerated only moderately. in monthly terms, it returned in february to the growth pace seen in september - december last year ( seasonally adjusted ) ; however, it still holds somewhat above 4 % in annual terms. weekly inflation estimates suggest similar developments. after

a surge in the first two weeks of this year, they have dropped in recent weeks, though holding somewhat above the path that corresponds to our inflation target. moreover, we do not rule out that the deferred effects of the vat hike may manifest themselves in the months to come. it is also of note that in february, both monthly core inflation and most other indicators adjusted for volatile components and seasonality exceeded 4 % in annual terms. there is evidence that risks that prices of certain food products may grow at an elevated pace have decreased. in february, a decline was registered in prices of a number of products which had made a considerable contribution to acceleration of food inflation. furthermore, both domestic and external prices of main crops stopped growing in recent months. current harvest expectations for this year are favourable, which also limits risks in this part. petrol and diesel prices were comparatively stable in december - february, and even drifted down slightly in february. this constrained inflation acceleration. furthermore, the ruble appreciated in the opening months of the year ; this had a favourable effect on prices and inflation expectations. inflation expectations is the second factor we closely monitor. we had concerns about their 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches possible response to inflation acceleration. expectations of professional analysts remain anchored. analysts understand the temporary nature of this year ’ s inflation acceleration associated with one - off factors, in particular, the vat. therefore, as the bank of russia, they forecast a moderate increase in inflation in 2019 and expect inflation to come in at 4 % from next year onwards. households and businesses responded to inflation acceleration more pronouncedly. expectations of households rose from a historic low of 7. 8 % seen last april to 10. 4 % in january, that is returned to their mid - 2017 readings. businesses ’ price expectations also jumped considerably. however, household inflation expectations dropped to 9. 1 % as early as march. price expectations of businesses also declined. however, they both remain elevated. it is of special note that inflation expectations of households and businesses demonstrated last year that they remained unanchored. they follow current changes in prices, primarily petrol and food prices, and ruble exchange rate fluctuations. the third important factor we took into account is consumer demand. lending underpins consumption but slowing wage growth constrains a rise in demand. consumption growth slowed down after a short - term acceleration in november, which was likely associated with preemptive purchases of non - food goods in the run - up to the vat