The Bank of Russia announced it will appoint VTB Capital strategist Alexei Zabotkin as the head of its monetary policy department in August to replace Igor Dmitriev, who decided to leave the bank, Reuters reported.
Dmitriev served as the head of the monetary policy department for five years before he decided to leave the central bank from June 25, the Bank of Russia said in a statement on its website.
The central bank, which kept its key rate at 7.25 percent earlier this month and indicated it has nearly completed its rate-cutting cycle, said on its Facebook page that its monetary policy stance would remain unchanged after Dmitriev’s departure.
Dmitriev has steered the monetary policy of the central bank through one of the most turbulent times when the rouble crashed to record lows following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and a rapid decline in global oil prices.
The central bank said Zabotkin will become the head of the monetary policy department from August 20. Until then, the bank’s Andrei Lipin will be the department’s acting head.
The VTB Capital press office confirmed that its strategist Zabotkin will join the central bank in August. VTB Capital, the investment arm of Russia’s No.2 state lender VTB, has served as the minting factory for state officials in the past few years.
Former VTB Capital economist Maxim Oreshkin is now Russia’s economy minister, economist Alexei Moiseev is deputy finance minister, while economist Nikolay Podguzov is the head of state postal operator Russian Post.
