Ukraine Russia Conflict: Russian Central Bank cuts key interest rate

The Russian Central Bank has cut its key interest rate to 11% from 14%, citing a slowdown in inflation. It is the third three-point cut since the Central Bank hiked the rate to 20% in late February after Russian launched war in Ukraine. It said inflation had been at 17.8% in April, but slowed slightly to 17.5% as of an estimate May 20.“External conditions for the Russian economy are still challenging, considerably constraining economic activity,” the Central Bank said in a statement.

“Financial stability risks decreased somewhat, enabling a relaxation of some capital control measures.”

Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched its invasion of Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates, Ukraine’s president and foreign minister have pleaded with the west to send more weapons to their military in the face of Russia’s intensifying assault on the eastern Donbas region. Russian forces have launched fresh assaults on towns in eastern Ukraine, with the city of Sievierodonetsk increasingly in danger of being totally encircled. Also, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s plan to simplify the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied regions violates international law.