The rouble continued to slip against the major currencies, losing 10 percent of its value since early 2011. The position of the authorities regarding the situation on the currency market is optimistic. Presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich refused to call the rouble's weakening "a devaluation." The Central Bank prefers not to make sharp moves and waits for the moment when the rouble will begin to strengthen without outside interference.
Last week alone, the regulator spent some two billion dollars to support the rouble rate, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta writes. A weaker rouble makes life easier for exporters, but more difficult for those who drew loans in foreign currencies or buy imported goods. The rouble will continue its downfall this week, after losing 10 percent of its value since the beginning of this year. According to market participants, the Central Bank raised the upper limit of the dollar-euro dual currency basket. The main financial regular is ready to take actions for keep the rouble from further depreciation.
The "Novye Izvestia" quotes First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Sergei Ulyukayev, who believes that the rouble has been "on the trajectory of smooth devaluation for the past two months." The rate of this smooth devaluation outpaces the similar indicators posted three years ago. Nevertheless, the Central Bank is in no hurry to give a hand to the Russian currency. The experts polled by the newspaper believe that the Central Bank has chosen a wait-in-see tactic because of a new monetary policy.
In the opinion of director of the Banking Institute of the State University - Higher School of Economics Mikhail Solodkov, cited by the newspaper, there is nothing surprising in the fact that Russians flocked to currency exchange offices. "The population has become experienced. Once markets collapse, the rouble rate falls to major currencies, which increases the inflation. Therefore, savers eye the dollar as more reliable currency than the rouble," Solodkov says.
The newspaper believes that the weakening of the Russian currency also stems from the outflow of capital, by not only foreign investors, but also Russian business persons.