MOSCOW, July 26 The balance of risks to inflation in Russia over the medium term remains shifted towards pro-inflationary ones, the Central Bank said in a statement following a meeting of the board of directors on the key rate.
The Bank of Russia has raised its key rate for the first time this year — expectedly by 2 percentage points, to 18% per annum. This is the maximum rate since the beginning of April 2022, when it was at 20% per annum. 
«Over the medium term, the balance of risks for inflation remains shifted towards pro-inflationary ones,» the regulator notes.
«The main inflationary risks are associated with changes in the conditions of foreign trade (including under the influence of geopolitical tensions), with the preservation of high inflationary expectations and the deviation of the Russian economy upward from the trajectory of balanced growth,» the Central Bank explained.
In turn, disinflationary risks are primarily associated with a faster slowdown in domestic demand growth than expected in the baseline scenario, the statement says.