Futures prices, however, suggest that it will remain high for the whole of next year. Food prices on world markets have also been hit, even though tensions eased somewhat after the agreement between Russia and Ukraine at the end of July, which unlocked grain deliveries from the Black Sea ports.
I would now like to explain the thinking behind these policy measures, including those decided last week. First are the measures taken as interest rate policy. Since February last year, the Bank had maintained the target of its policy interest rate, the uncollateralized overnight call rate, at 0.5 percent.