| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Central Bank Spends Reserves on Ruble
The Central Bank of Russia continues to prop up the national currency, selling dollars from its international reserves to prevent the ruble from falling sharply. It sold $2 billion yesterday as authorities continue pouring billions of rubles into the banking system to keep it liquid. The fluctuations in the exchange rate of the ruble to the currency basket moved into its second day yesterday. It dropped from 30.35 at Monday’s closing to 30.36 yesterday morning, then rose to 30.27 and dropped to 30.40 – the level it was at at the beginning of the month. That was when the Central Bank started selling its dollars. About $540 billion remain in the reserves.
The ruble lost 30 kopecks against the dollar yesterday, reaching 26.59 rubles to the dollar. The euro lost 12.4 kopecks against the ruble, for 35.10 rubles to the euro. On Monday, the euro had gained 22 kopecks. Part of the reason for the dollar’s gain was that banks spent part of the money they received from the Finance Ministry at deposit auctions to buy dollars. The public was also buying dollars because of lingering rumors of the ruble’s devaluation, and the high demand drove the American currency up to between 26.90 and 27.50 rubles at money changers.
Interest on interbank crediting also spent its second day in turmoil. It was 15-17 percent in the morning, 7-8 percent later and finally 3-5 percent. Dealers say top rung banks had been paying 8-9 percent, and yesterday’s low represents pre-crisis rates. The Central Bank finally found it necessary to issue a statement denying there were plans for the devaluation of the ruble. “Currency speculators will be very disappointed,” Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin warned.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 22, 2008
|
|
|
