Russia Holds Main Rates for 7th Month, Takes Easing Steps

Russia’s central bank took the biggest step toward easing monetary policy since raising all interest rates in September as the economy continued to slow.

Rates on loans backed with gold and non-market collateral were cut by a quarter point, as were the costs of some longer-term repurchase operations, the central bank in Moscow said in a statement on its website today. The refinancing rate was held at 8.25 percent, half a point above the record low, in line with forecasts by 17 of 21 economists in a Bloomberg survey.