Fin ministry to buy 265.8 bln rbl foreign currency Jan 15–Feb 6

MOSCOW, Jan 11 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Finance Ministry will acquire 265.8 billion rubles of foreign currency from the open market under the budget rule from January 15 through February 6, spending 15.6 billion rubles a day, the authority said in a statement on Friday.

Under the rule, windfall oil and gas income of the budget from the oil price of above $40 per barrel are earmarked to buy currency on the domestic market. In January, the income is projected at 220.6 billion rubles, the ministry said.

In February 2017, the ministry entered the currency market to minimize dependence of the ruble rate on oil prices. In September 2018, the central bank decided to suspend foreign currency purchases on the market for the Finance Ministry to reduce volatility on financial markets.

Alexei Zabotkine, head of the central bank’s monetary policy department, said that the foreign currency liquidity of Russia’s financial system and real sector is high, and the balance of demand and supply will remain stable after the purchases are resumed.

“The pause in the central bank’s purchases of foreign currency from the market was partially used for external debt repayment, but a significant part was used to replenish the banking system and the corporate sector’s foreign currency reserves,” he added.

Central Bank Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina earlier said that the resumption of the purchases would not impact the ruble rate much.

(66.8605 rubles – U.S. $1)

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