UrBC, Moscow, August 24, 2018. The Bank of Russia will refrain from buying foreign currency for the Russian Finance Ministry between August 23 and September 30, 2018.

‘The decision was made in order to make the financial authorities’ actions more predictable and to decrease the forex markets’ volatility. The eventual decision to resume buying foreign currency will be taken based on the actual financial market situation throughout September 2018,’ the bank states.

The last period the Bank of Russia halted its foreign currency purchases was six days long, and the Central Bank purchased larger amounts than had originally planned afterwards: RUR 17.5bn were spent on August 17, RUR 17.5bn on August 20, and RUR 20.1bn on August 21. According to the Finance Ministry’s plans, the bank was meant to spend RUR 16.66bn per day throughout August and September.

It is believed that the bank resumed its foreign currency purchases on August 17-21 since the ruble kept weakening against the U.S. dollar (the dollar now costs 9.9% more than in early August).