MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina addressed a news conference on Friday after the central bank cut its interest rate by 50 basis points to 16.5%.

Nabiullina spoke in Russian. The quotes below were translated into English by Reuters.

ON THE OPTIONS FOR FRIDAY’S RATE DECISION

“Three options were considered in detail: 16%, 16.5%, and an unchanged rate of 17%.

“There were many arguments for these choices, but the differences in positions can probably be reduced to the assessment of stable inflation and the degree of concern about the scale of possible secondary effects from one-off pro-inflationary factors.”

ON THE IMPACT OF WESTERN SANCTIONS

“The sanctions are primarily aimed at restricting exports of our raw materials. It’s difficult to predict the exact

See Full Page