Russia’s central bank governor indicated the potential for a rate cut in H2 2024, emphasizing the need for a sustainable inflation slowdown. Meanwhile, Russian lenders’ FX liquidity dropped significantly by 8.7% to USD 44.7 bln in December from USD 48.9 bln in November, mainly due to a decrease in balances on correspondent accounts with nonresident banks, growth in FX lending, and a reduction in client foreign currency funds. Separately, the IMF raised its GDP forecast for Russia to 2.6%, up from the previous 1.1% estimate in October, surpassing Russia’s own projections of 2.3% (economy ministry) and 0.5-1.5% (central bank).