The board of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) at its October 25 policy meeting resolved to hike the key interest rate by 200 basis points from 19% to a record-high 21%. As followed by bne IntelliNews, the CBR was largely expected to hike the key interest rate again by 100 percentage points to 20% on October 25, as the war-driven boost in budget spending is not helping the central bank’s crusade against inflation. But the 200bp rate hike was more aggressive than the consensus expectations. Most notably, it takes the key interest rate to an even higher level than the emergency hike to 20% in Feb…