Russian Central Bank Cancels Appearance At Exhibition

Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of Russia’s central bank, has cancelled a scheduled appearance at an exhibition in Moscow.

No reason was given for her absence. The central bank declined to comment.

Nabiullina, who has led the Bank of Russia since 2013, had been due to speak at the ‘Finance Day’ forum at the Rossiya exhibition in Moscow.

Nabiullina, 60, is credited with ensuring Russia’s economic stability after the West imposed the toughest-ever sanctions on a major economy in response to Russia’s decision to send thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022.

Report says her decision to hike interest rates to 20% shortly after the war began and the imposition of capital controls were crucial factors in defending the rouble and preventing severe capital outflows that could have derailed Russia’s economy.

Hampered by stubbornly high inflation, well above the central bank’s 4% target, Nabiullina has been forced to raise interest rates to their current level of 16%, which some business leaders have criticised as prohibitively high.

Some lawmakers also blame the central bank for storing a large portion of its foreign exchange reserves in Europe. Around $300 billion in assets, or almost half of Russia’s reserves it built up to insulate the economy against further crises, have now been frozen by sanctions.

Supporters say she has modernised Russia’s central bank policy, particularly launching a floating exchange rate in November 2014 that enabled the regulator to pursue an inflation-targeting regime.

Nabiullina won plaudits at home and abroad for steering Russia’s economy through an oil-price slump and the first barrage of Western sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

REUTERS/Christopher Ojilere