MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. High rates of economic growth are fraught with labor shortages and inflation acceleration, said head of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina at the Alpha-Summit on Tuesday.
She also touched upon the demand for the digital ruble in cross-border payments and the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) in macroeconomic analysis.
TASS has assembled the key statements by the head of the regulator.
On economic growth and inflation
High rates of economic growth are fraught with labor shortages and inflation acceleration: "And the lack and shortage of labor that we see is a limitation for economic growth," Nabiullina said.
According to her, "there are currently no grounds for increasing the inflation target" in Russia, while adjusting the target to the results would mean destroying the inflation targeting policy.
"When the target is constantly changed and adjusted to the result, this already means the destruction of the inflation targeting policy, the belief that the Central Bank really wants to achieve the inflation target that it has set," she said.
On monetary policy and business
The Bank of Russia independently makes all decisions on monetary policy, but the opinion of business is "very important" for the regulator.
"The opinion of business is essential both in assessing the current situation and in expectations," Nabiullina said.
Although the state of most Russian companies is now stable, there are some problematic enterprises.
"It is not about losses - although there are unprofitable companies, and most often these are companies with long-standing problems - but it is more about a decrease in profits," the head of the regulator noted.
On digital ruble
Based on the results of the pilot project, the Central Bank sees "much greater potential demand for the new form of the ruble not so much in retail payments, but in smart contracts, in the wholesale link." Also, in cross-border payments "we will focus on this theme".
On artificial intelligence
The capabilities of AI in macroeconomic analysis, including in matters of the key rate, and forecasting are limited.
"We are trying to use the AI capabilities, I personally believe that there is great potential there, but not yet in macroeconomic analysis and forecasting," Nabiullina said.
On protecting rights of depositors
In order to protect the rights of depositors, the Central Bank does not support the participation of banks as shareholders in the financing of companies.
"This is a different type of risk, for this there are investment companies with their own regulation, so we will limit the so-called immobilized assets," Nabiullina said.