does not impact inflation instantaneously, but rather has a time - lagged effect on the economy. this is why economic processes are currently developing in this way. however, inflation as it stands will already affect savings to a lesser extent as banks will raise their deposit rates following the increase in the key rate. we can already see the start of this trend now. of course, this will influence not only savings, but also the purchasing power of households ’ incomes as people will not have to spend increasingly more money to cover their everyday needs. at the same time, the increase in the key rate will not hinder mortgage lending expansion. mortgage loans are long - term loans issued for 10, 15 or even 30 years, and interest rates in this segment depend on inflation much more than on the key rate. i would like to emphasise this factor. understanding that inflation will be close to the target, banks will not set excessively high mortgage rates. this situation was observed before the pandemic, when interest rates were low. mortgage lending started to expand extensively even before the pandemic. this is control over inflation that helps generate long - term money, long - term loans, and mortgage loans. other challenges existing today are associated with the changes brought about by the pandemic. we could see that remote services were crucial during the pandemic. they included both financial services, e. g. bank apps, as well as non - financial ones, such as taxi hailing apps and ones dealing with large purchases. many such services are integrated into ecosystems that are forming, so to say, around large banks and technological companies. this creates a lot of advantages for consumers as everything they need is close at hand. however, this also poses risks. it is thus crucial to ensure personal data protection and limit the risks of investment in non - core assets. therefore, we are currently drafting principles for regulating and controlling ecosystem risks and will discuss this topic. we will certainly need lawmakers ’ support in this regard. speaking of a digital ruble, this initiative is strategically important for the task i have addressed today : lower costs for households and businesses. digital currency will make it possible to transfer payments more cheaply and better protect transactions. a digital ruble is a very promising project, but it is only one of the elements of the national financial infrastructure. previously, i stated multiple times, including in the state duma, that it is vital for us to have our own national financial infrastructure.

and helped set the economy on a recovery path. this year, the economy has returned to the pre - pandemic growth trajectory. the immediate task is to stage a switch from recovery to sustainable growth. in order to do this, it is necessary to overcome the negative effects of the pandemic, and above all, to deal with soaring inflation. this is the focus of our current policy, and this is why we are raising the key rate. what happened? why did price growth accelerate in russia and across the globe? last year ’ s anti - pandemic restrictions led to a drastic shrinkage of demand in most sectors. businesses suspended operations and purchases of raw materials and components. people did not buy tickets or holidays because of travel bans. when restrictions started to ease, demand was quick to recover. it was helped by loose monetary policies pursued by all central banks — to the effect that loans were increasingly affordable — and fiscal stimulus. however, a rebound in demand came with a change in its structure. for example, it spurred demand for telecommunications equipment as many people needed fast internet to work 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches remotely. supply, that is production, cannot quickly adjust to these changes. in these conditions, demand exceeds potential output and triggers an inevitable rise in prices. this true of many sectors. some central banks hold the view that this is a temporary situation and no monetary policy response is needed. those are the central banks of countries where inflation was very low for many years. their case is utterly different. we had also enjoyed low inflation, which only had lasted four years. but the current rate of inflation is double our target, and food inflation has unfortunately increased to double - digits. importantly, in this short period of close - to - target inflation, people ’ s perception of it remained unchanged. domestic inflation expectations — that is the way people perceive current inflation and what to expect in the future — is a reflection of peoples experience with the long years of high inflation. on the cusp of the pandemic, inflation expectations had just started to go down as we saw them approaching 4 %. the pandemic derailed that trend. inflation expectations this year have grown drastically to a five - year high. what does that mean in practice? it means that people rush to buy everything before prices grow, and are taking out a lot of loans. and that further fuels demand and inflation. whereas some central banks can afford to take a wait - and - see