To tame prices, Russia’s central bank has hiked its key interest rate to a record high of 21% last month. It said last week that it could hike its key rate again at its next meeting in December.
High interest rates are irritating business leaders, who are more loudly critiquing the central bank’s policies.
Sergei Chemezov, the CEO of the defense conglomerate Rostec, said in an address to Russian senators in late October that “record” interest rates were “eating up” profits.
Chemezov further warned that the high borrowing rates would eventually bankrupt most enterprises.
Last week, officials and business leaders at an economic forum in central Russia expressed pessimism about the country’s economy next year. They predict lower-than-expected growth and investment delays due to the central bank’s rate hike and a lack of state funding.