CBR continues to defend the ruble

With the conclusion of the New Year’s holiday season on January 11, the Central Bank of Russia during the next four days sold $2.2 billion on the currency markets, and has been issuing forex repo credits worth $8.3 billion, including $5.4 billion in credits with 28- and 364-day maturities. The CBR last year spent a net $83 billion propping up the ruble.

The CBR’s foreign currency reserves, including gold, stood at $386 billion at the end of December, down from $510 billion at the beginning of January 2014. Russia’s reserves are the world’s sixth largest and cover over a year’s imports of goods and services. Under normal conditions, such a robust reserve position is considered very good.

CBR gold and currency reserves 2007–2014, US$ billion

Source: CBR