Russia Seen Pushing Back Rate Cuts on Inflation Outlook for 2014

Economists pushed back forecasts for a cut in Russia’s benchmark rate today after the central bank said that inflation would slow to next year’s target of 5 percent only in the second half.

Monetary-policy makers held the one-week auction rate, the benchmark introduced in September, at 5.5 percent at their meeting today, the Moscow-based central bank said today in a statement on its website. That matched the forecasts of all 23 economists in a Bloomberg survey.