Russia raises the interest rate to 7.75%, USD/RUB dips

Yohay Elam FXStreet

Russia's central bank raised the interest rate from 7.50% to 7.75%. Markets had not anticipated the Moscow-based institution led by Governor Elvira Nabiullina to change rates.

USD/RUB trades a tad lower after the announcement, at around 66.30.

The Russian economy suffers from sanctions and falling oil prices.

The increase in the interest rate serves to support the Russian Rouble amid the global headwinds. On the other hand, An increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) expected in January lifts inflation expectations. Annual inflation stood at 3.8% as of November, close to the 4% upper limit set by the central bank.

Author

Yohay Elam

FXStreet

Yohay is in Forex since 2008 when he founded Forex Crunch, a blog crafted in his free time that turned into a fully-fledged currency website later sold to Finixio.

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