Monetary Policy in Russia in 2020

In 2020, the world economy was faced with a large-scale crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a worsening situation in the global oil market, increasing global uncertainty, and capital outflows from emerging markets. The crisis phenomena were experienced, to a varying degree, by every sector of the economy and required the implementation of a set of urgent monetary policy measures. The Bank of Russia’s switchover to monetary policy easing became its key decision aimed at sustaining aggregate demand: in 2020, the regulator cut the key rate four times, from 6.25% per annum in February to 4.25% per annum in July, thus sinking it to its historic low