The Central Bank raised the basic interest rate, the first time in history the foreign debt/GDP ratio dropped to this level

The Central Bank of Russia (BR) issued a statement on October 27 stating that it has decided to increase the basic interest rate by 2%, to 15%/year.

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The Bank of Russia has just announced an increase in the base interest rate by 2%, to 15%/year.

It should be noted that inflationary pressures in the economy have been higher than expected by the Central Bank of Russia.

Earlier, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foreign Trade Bank of Russia (VTB) Dmitry Pyanov reiterated the Central Bank's inflation forecast for 2023 at 6-7%, while current figures show that actual inflation is already higher than this level.

Immediately after the decision, the Russian Ruble increased in value in transactions at the Moscow Exchange. As of 13:30 (Moscow time, or 17:30 Hanoi time), the USD decreased by 1.13%, to 92.9 Rubles per 1 USD, while the Euro was traded at 98.19 Rubles per 1 Euro, (down 1.41%), and the CNY was at 12,653 Rubles per 1 CNY (down 0.98%).

Before the announcement of the above decision, at 13:25, the USD had decreased by 0.67%, to 93.32 Ruble/USD, the Euro decreased by 1%, to 98.59 Ruble/Euro and the CNY was at 12.716 Ruble/NDT (down 0.49%).

Meanwhile, for the first time in history, Russia's foreign debt-to-GDP ratio fell below 15% in the second quarter of 2023. Per capita debt fell to $2,300, the lowest level since 2006.

As of the end of the second quarter of this year, Russia's foreign debt stood at $343.4 billion (about 29,900 billion Rubles) or 14.96% of Russia's GDP.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti gave the above figures based on BR data in the second quarter. But in the third quarter, Russia's foreign debt decreased by another 4%, down to 329.5 billion USD.

Since the beginning of the year, Russia's debt-to-GDP ratio has fallen to 14.1%.

The Russian central bank previously explained the decrease in foreign debt as a result of “a reduction in equivalent USD debt repayments due to the weakening of the national currency against the USD, as well as a decrease in the volume of foreign holdings of Russian sovereign bonds, including their planned repayments.”

Russia's foreign debt has been decreasing over the past few years, with the ratios being: 2020: 31% of GDP, 2021: 26.2% of GDP, 2022: 16.6% of GDP.

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