Russia’s central bank Friday lowered its key interest rate below its prewar level, and said it expects the economy to contract less sharply than it did when Western sanctions were first imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The Bank of Russia lowered its key rate to 8% from 9.5%, the level it stood at before the late-February invasion of the country’s southern neighbor. The central bank’s first move as sanctions were rolled out and the ruble slumped was to more than double the key rate, but a rebound in the currency opened the way for a sequence of cuts.