To stifle the rising prices, the Russian central bank on Friday is expected to lift its key interest rate from the current level of 12%. Russia suffered a bout of high inflation after the West imposed a raft of sanctions early last year, but prices then cooled temporarily. Putin and Elvira Nabiullina, a technocrat who has led the central bank for a decade, took credit for getting inflation under control. Overall, the annual inflation rate has more than doubled to 5.2% in August from 2.3% in April. She predicts that softer demand and less government stimulus after the presidential election will bring Russian inflation back down to 4% by the second half of 2024.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 15, 2023 16:19 UTC