The Kremlin sent well wishes to Elvira Nabiullina on Tuesday amid speculation that the governor of Russia's central bank was in hospital after she canceled a scheduled appearance at an exhibition in Moscow.
Nabiullina, 60, canceled an appearance at the "Finance Day" forum at the Rossiya exhibition. No reason was given for her absence and the central bank declined to comment.
When asked about speculation on the Telegram app that Nabiullina had undergone surgery in a Moscow hospital, Kremlin spokeserson Dmitry Peskov said the question was inappropriate.
"This is absolutely personal information about health and we have neither the scope nor the desire to comment on it," Peskov told reporters. "In any event, we wish Elvira Sakhipzadovna health strength and continued dedication."
For investors in Russia, any details about Nabiullina's health are important, given the power the central bank wields over the ruble rate with capital controls, and over the economy in general with banking regulation and interest rates.
"The question may be inappropriate. But we would really like to know," Yevgeny Kogan, a professor at Russia's Higher School of Economics and a prominent analyst, said on Telegram, where he has thousands of followers.
Nabiullina is credited with ensuring Russia's economic stability after the West imposed the toughest-ever sanctions on a major economy in response to Russia's decision to send thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022.
Her decision to hike interest rates to 20% shortly after the war began and the imposition of capital controls were crucial factors in defending the ruble and preventing severe capital outflows that could have derailed Russia's economy.
Hampered by stubbornly high inflation, well above the central bank's 4% target, Nabiullina has been forced to raise interest rates to their current level of 16%, which some business leaders have criticized as prohibitively high.
Some lawmakers also blame the central bank for storing such a large portion of its foreign exchange reserves in Europe. Around $300 billion in assets, or almost half of Russia's reserves it built up to insulate the economy against further crises, have now been frozen by sanctions.
Supporters say she has modernized Russia's central bank policy, particularly launching a floating exchange rate in November 2014 that enabled the regulator to pursue an inflation targeting regime.
Nabiullina won plaudits at home and abroad for steering Russia's economy through an oil-price slump and the first barrage of Western sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
