* Board member advocates rates on hold in Jan
* Says cbank to raise capital ratio requirements
(Adds quotes, detail)
TULA, Russia, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Russia's interest rates should not be raised in January as the central bank searches for the right balance between supporting the economy and cooling price growth, a member of the bank's board said on Tuesday.
"Disputes are being held every time... If there is my will, I would not touch rates," said Gennady Melikyan, a first deputy chairman at the central bank.
Melikyan attends the bank's board meetings where it decides on interest rates but his main responsibility is for managing the banking sector not monetary policy.
Market participants expect the bank to raise rates further at a meeting in late January after it failed to contain a surge in inflation to 8.8 percent in 2010, compared with an initial official target range of 6-7 percent.
"Any tightening of monetary policy can reduce capital outflow, impact inflation but, on the other hand, the tightening will pressure industrial activity, which in turn will have a negative impact on inflation," Melikyan said.
"Moderation is needed in everything," he added.
Alexei Ulyukayev, the first deputy chairman who deals with monetary policy, said earlier this month that the bank may continue tightening monetary policy after raising rates in December due to high inflationary risks. [ID:nLDE70A0PY]
Melikyan also said the central bank may consider raising minimum requirements for banks' capital to 300 million roubles ($10 million) from 2015 compared with 90 million roubles at present.
The central bank, planning to raise capital requirements to 180 million roubles from 2012, assumes the banks' average capital will grow by 15 percent a year.
At present, the overall volume of the Russian banking system stands at 4.7 trillion roubles ($157.3 billion). (Reporting Elena Fabrichnaya and Oksana Kobzeva; Writing by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Toni Vorobyova and Patrick Graham)