Russia spent 6 billion USD from reserves in last 10 days

Russian Central Bank has spent about 6 billion USD from the international reserves in the last 10 days to support the currency, said the governor of the institution Elvira Nabiullina. “We support the exchange rate by selling funds from our reserves. We sold about 6 billion USD over the last ten days”, said Nabiullina to the lower house of the Russian parliament. The head of the regulator noted, however, that fixing the exchange rate would be counterproductive measure contrary to the logic of the market.

“We can not limit market factors. Attempts to artificially fixing the exchange rate of the ruble is likely to lead to even stronger depreciation of the currency, which would adversely affect the economy”, said more Nabiullina. According to her, the ruble is currently not freely tradeable, but its dynamics are primarily influenced by market factors, including the situation on the oil market.

Meanwhile, Russian Central Bank and Chinese Central Bank signed a currency swap in national currencies. The aim is to create conditions for the development of bilateral trade and mutual investments between Russia and China, passed Monday. The volume of the swap line is 150 billion CNY, the agreement is for a term of three years and may be extended with the consent of both parties. Currency swaps between central banks is a tool that enables each party to gain access to liquidity in the currency of the other country, bypassing the need to make purchases in the currency markets.

Vnesheconombank and the Export-Import Bank of China (EIBC) signed a framework loan agreement of 2 billion USD. The document provides for the granting of long-term credit resources to fund projects that will be carried out on Russian territory, including the Russian Far East and Siberia. Such an agreement was signed between EIBC and Russian VTB. Chinese lender can grant his Russian partner credit line yuan or rubles for a total amount equivalent to 2 billion USD. According to official statements the credit line can be used to finance imports of several types of goods from China – from food to high-tech equipment. During trade on Monday the Russian currency hits new record low against the USD. One number of state money was exchanged for 40,495 rubles.