By Elena Fabrichnaya
MOSCOW, April 23 (Reuters) - Russia's economic contraction in the first two months of the year may prompt the central bank to cut its key rate faster than expected, some analysts said on Thursday, revising their earlier view of the outcome of the April 24 rate-setting meeting.
Twenty-three analysts polled by Reuters on April 20 expected the central bank to cut the key rate by 50 basis points to 14.5%, but the prospects of the first quarterly economic contraction since the first three months
of 2023 are causing some to rethink.
"The potential economic downturn in the first quarter of 2026 remains a pressing issue and could be a key factor in the central bank's decision to further ease its policy this Friday," Raiffeisen analysts said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin scolded his top officials last week after the economy contracted by 1.8% in the first two months of the year, urging them to devise new measures to boost economic growth.
Steelmaker Severstal reported a first-quarter profit close to zero, and aluminium maker Rusal reported a quarterly loss, both attributing their results to the central bank's tight monetary policy.
Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov acknowledged on April 17 that the economic situation was "not easy," blaming the strong rouble, high interest rates, labour shortages, and the budget deficit.
Russian Science Academy's Economic Forecasting Institute provided one of the most pessimistic first quarter economic contraction estimates of 1.5%.
Russian businesses see 12% as the key rate level at which economic growth can resume. The central bank forecasts the average key rate to be between 13.5% and 14.5% this year, effectively ruling out any chances for growth resumption.
New data showed on April 23 that industrial output grew by only 0.3% in the first quarter of 2026, signalling a similar performance by the overall economy during the same period. The preliminary March GDP data is expected on April 29.
The indicator rose 2.3% in March, year-on-year, better than expected, following declines of 0.9% and 0.8% in the two previous months. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 0.9% increase in output in March year-on-year.
Renaissance Capital analyst Andrei Melashchenko said the new industrial output data did not affect his forecast of a 0.9% economic contraction for the full year. Raiffeisen analysts said the contraction would be smaller than their current 1% estimate.
Finam brokerage analyst Olga Belenkaya noted that higher budget spending and windfall energy revenues as a result of the Middle East crisis could have supported the industrial output data in March.
"Early data for March, indicating a 2.3% year-over-year rise in industrial production, suggest that GDP may have turned positive in March," she said.
(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Alex Richardson)
