Russia's July inflation expectations steady at 13%, supporting case for rate cut

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Inflation expectations among Russian households for the year ahead, an important gauge closely watched by the central bank, remained steady at 13% in July compared with June, the central bank said on Thursday. 

The central bank will hold a rate-setting board meeting on July 25 and is widely expected to cut its key interest rate from the current 20% as inflation is slowing down. The latest inflationary expectations data is in favour of a cut.

Weekly inflation slowed to 0.02% in the latest week, compared to 0.79% in the previous week, according to statistical data released on July 16, while annualised inflation slowed to 9.34% from 9.45% one week earlier.

The central bank expects inflation to slow to between 7% and 8% in 2025 from 9.5% in 2024 and hit the target of 4% in 2026.

Inflationary expectations have been falling at the start of the year after the central bank hiked its key rate to 21%, the highest level since the early 2000s, but rose again in April and May.

(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Sharon Singleton)