INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Russian Central Bank kept its key rate at 7.5% on Friday, an expected measure aimed at supporting the economy against a global trend of
a bid to counter inflation.Given reassuring macro-economic signs, it progressively lowered the rate over the following months and markets
and expected "inflation for the end of 2022 to total between 12 and 13%."The bank noted "geopolitical tensions" and said "partial
predicted gross domestic product would contract by between 3.0 and 3.5%.
