Russian central bank snips rates to new historic low

The Russian Central Bank on Friday announced a cut in its main interest rates to a new historic low of 8.75 percent as the bank seeks to stimulate a fragile economic recovery. The 0.25 percentage-point cut, effective from Monday, marked the tenth Russian rate cut in a row since April.
At the end of October, the rate had been reduced to below 10.0 percent for the first time ever. The bank said in a statement the cut in the main refinancing rate had been agreed against a background of lessening inflation in Russia, which is running at 9.0 percent this year compared with 13.5 percent in 2008.