Currency falls after rate cut to 15% to soften blows from falling oil prices
Russia’s central bank has surprised financial markets and sent the rouble tumbling by cutting its key interest rate to soften the blows from falling oil prices and western sanctions.
The main interest rate was cut to 15% from 17%, just weeks after the central bank had raised the interest rate in the hope of preventing the rouble’s collapse. At an emergency meeting in December the rate was put up by 6.5 percentage points to 17% but that failed to stem the decline in Russia’s currency.