Russia spends $13 billion defending ruble

Russia spends $13 billion defending ruble

17 October 2014, 09:51
Ronnie Mansolillo
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MOSCOW--The Bank of Russia sold as much as $12.95 billion in the first half of October to support the ruble as the falling oil prices battered the sanctions-hit Russian economy, the central bank's data showed Friday.

The central bank said it pushed the ruble's trading band 30 kopecks higher to 37.25-46.25 rubles per euro-dollar basket by the end of the main trading session on Thursday.

The move is evidence of the central bank' persistent intervention on currency markets. It has shifted the band 37 times since the beginning of the month when the ruble's band stood at 35.40 to 44.40 rubles per basket.

The central bank keeps the ruble within a floating band and starts selling dollars and euros to cushion the currency's decline whenever the ruble moves to the weak end of the band. It automatically moves the band by five kopecks, or five hundredths of a ruble, once an intervention allotment of $350 million is exhausted.

The central bank also said Friday it spent $1.768 billion to slow the ruble's slide on Oct. 15.

The ruble eased 0.4% in early trade to 46.19 versus the euro-dollar basket.

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