It might be the toughest job in finance.
Central Bank assets expropriated; sanctions on a large part of the economy, from oil to nickel to caviar; cut off from SWIFT; projected decline in GDP larger than the U.S. Dust Bowl year of 1931 (-7% vs. -6.4%); inflation at 20%; collapse of the currency; oligarchs frantically moving assets hither and yon; meme-stock-like swings in the price of oil; store shelves emptying due to hoarding and supply stoppages; C-bank interest rate at 20%; a major war and Vladimir Putin looking over your shoulder every minute of the day.
Rough gig, tough room.
From Reuters, March 18:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed nominating central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina for a third term in a bid to ensure macroeconomic stability, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
A surprise appointment in 2013, 58-year-old Nabiullina, an economist and former advisor to Putin, is the first woman to chair one of Russia's most respected institutions.
Her current term ends in June and on Friday Putin asked the Lower House of Parliament, or Duma, to consider his re-appointment proposal on March 21.
"Now, when the central bank is facing a growing responsibility to maintain macroeconomic stability, the president regularly speaks to Nabiullina," Peskov told reporters on a daily call.
Nabiullina is a committed inflation fighter, resisting calls from powerful industrialists and the Economy Ministry for interest rate cuts to revive growth.
The bank held its key interest rate at 20% on Friday after a sharp emergency hike in late February. Nabiullina is due give a monetary policy statement at 1400 GMT, without taking questions.....
....MUCH MORE
