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Russian inflation at high plateau, as consumer activity loses steam
On Wednesday, Russia reported this year's last set of macroeconomic data, covering preliminary estimates of December CPI and November actvity indicators. The deck of charts below summarises the key observations and takeaways. charts Given that the softening in the income and consumption trend is taking place amid elevated lending growth and low propensity to save, we believe fighting stickier-than-expected inflation will remain a priority for the central bank, which aims for 4.0-4.5% CPI by the end of next year. We reiterate our expectations of 0-50 basis point upside to the key rate from the current 8.5% level. ... (full story)