Russia's Currency Market Stable Amid Foreign Currency Purchase – Central Bank

Russia's Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said that the purchase of foreign currency by the Russia's Finance Ministry could have caused short-term deterioration in the exchange rate and inflation expectations, but in present the situation on the currency market remains stable.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The currency market remains stable amid the Russian Finance Ministry’s operations carried out on the market, namely, the purchase of foreign currency, state’s Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said Friday.

"The purchase of foreign currency by the Finance Ministry could have caused short-term deterioration in the exchange rate and inflation expectations … At present, we see that the situation on the currency market remains stable," Nabiullina said at a press briefing.

Nabiullina noted that the transactions in the foreign exchange market had not produced a significant impact on the ruble exchange rate, while the factors in favor of its strengthening were predominant.

The Russian Finance Ministry started buying foreign currency in order to minimize the dependence of the ruble rate on the volatility of oil prices. On March 3, the ministry announced its plan to spend 70.5 billion rubles ($1.2 billion) on foreign currency purchases from March 7 to April 6.