The Central Bank of the Russian Federation

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Thesis: The Central Bank of Russia should separate itself from de-facto federal control, so it
can increase private sector competition and create a diverse board of experts that are
representative of many backgrounds.
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State of Economy:
● Inflation In April 2022 inflation was 17.8%.
Inflation is currently at 14.3%.
● Interest rates were recently cut from 8% to
7.5%. The bank is attempting to restore
consumer demand which fell following
western sanctions.
● The Exchange Rate of the Russian Ruble to
the United States Dollar dropped drastically
in March (1 Ruble = 0.0075 USD) ,
however, due to United States inflation and
EU demand for Russian gas, this increased
significantly (1 Ruble = 0.017 USD).
● For the foreseeable future, the Russian economy will struggle due to
international sanctions on raw material exports.
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Bank Structure and Resulting Issues:
Strengths Weaknesses

“Managed" democracy: the electoral cycle is Dependence on the export of raw materials: the
not a concern and would unlikely generate changes of the resources’ prices could reduce the
politically motivated inflationary impulses. liquidity circulating in the Russian economy.

The lack of foreign competition makes Suboptimal level of competition and widespread
international credibility less important. corruption.

In the long run, this may be overexploited by the

government during difficult times, as the recent
“great bank takeover” demonstrates.
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Recommendation: Relaxing the entrance requirements for foreign banks will increase the
capital inflow in the economy fostering competition in the banking sector. Due to the future
need to appease the West there’s an opportunity for change.