Russia's Putin says measures to reduce inflation are working, but growth needs work

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin told a government meeting on Monday that measures to reduce inflation were working, but questioned whether more needed to be done to boost growth.

Recent data showed that inflation fell to 8.1% in August from 8.8% in July. On September 12, the central bank cut its key rate by one percentage point instead of an expected two percentage points, saying that inflation remained high.

"Efforts to reduce inflation are yielding results. It is very important that the moderate price environment has a positive effect on business investment activity and enables more dynamic, sustainable growth," Putin said.

Putin questioned whether more needed to be done to boost economic growth, which slowed to 1.1% in the first half of this year from 4.3% in the whole of 2024.

"The question is, is that enough? Is this what we wanted? Are we managing to solve the task we set for ourselves?" Putin asked.

"Or do we need other measures and higher growth rates, naturally while ensuring macroeconomic and inflationary stability given the central bank’s prudent policy?"

(Writing by by Gleb Bryanski. Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Mark Potter)