The Bank of Russia announced that it will suspend foreign currency purchases in order to “reduce the volatility of financial markets,” Reuters reported.
The suspension will continue through the end of the year.
According to the report, the bank said it would “continue conducting its own yuan sales at the equivalent of 8.4 billion roubles a day, thereby increasing the Russian state’s net daily sales of foreign currency to the equivalent of 8.4 billion roubles from around 4.2 billion roubles.”
Dmitry Pyanov, deputy CEO of Russian lender VTB, believes that sanctions are likely behind the rouble’s decline.
“My assumption is that the sanctions against Gazprombank have had a significant impact, as it has ceased to be a channel for delivering foreign currency to the Moscow Exchange,” Pyanov said.
According to The Moscow Times, the rouble’s exchange rate at “more than 105 against the U.S. dollar” was its “weakest valuation since the early days of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.”
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the exchange rate may be favorable for exporters.
