UrBC, Moscow, September 5, 2018. Russia’s Central Bank reports a number of factors have been pushing the authority to consider an increase in the key rate. The decision will be made by the bank’s Board of Directors, TASS refers to Head of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina as stating.

The last time the bank increased the key rate was in December 2014.

‘There are few factors in favor of reducing the key rate at the moment. There is quite a number of factors in favor of keeping the status quo, and there are also some factors in favor of ‘beginning to consider’ an increase,’ Nabiullina is quoted as saying at a press conference during the Alliance for Financial Inclusion’s Global Forum.

The ruble started strengthening against the U.S. dollar after the initial drop in the morning immediately following the statement.

‘We can see increased volatility on both Russian and the world financial markets. This has to do with external factors. This volatility will certainly be taken into account when the actual decision is made. We can see the inflation reaching its expected rate faster than predicted, in part (and mostly) due to external factors,’ the Head of Central Bank is quoted as saying.