Russia’s central bank has cut its main lending rate by one percent as inflation slows and the economy struggles.<br /><br /> After a scheduled monetary policy meeting, the bank dropped its one-week minimum auction repo rate to 11.5 percent.<br /><br /> Russia’s central bank has come under pressure from some officials to ease policy after it raised rates by 6.5 points to 17 percent in an emergency move in December to stem a run on the rouble. <br /><br /> Russia’s economy is straining under the impact of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and a fall in global oil prices which are squeezing the country’s export earnings and dampening investment.
