Russia's Finance Ministry to boost currency/gold purchases 7-fold to 8.2 bln rubles per day as of Sept 6
Russia's Finance Ministry plans to allocate 172.9 billion rubles for the purchase of foreign currency/gold under the fiscal rule from September 6 to October 4, with the daily volume of transactions equivalent to 8.2 billion rubles, the ministry said.
This is nearly 7-fold more than the daily volume of 1.12 billion rubles from August 7 to September 5, totaling 24.65 billion rubles.
The Finance Ministry expects windfall oil and gas revenue of 162 billion rubles in September. The deviation of actual oil and gas revenue from the expected monthly volume was 10.9 billion rubles in August.
The new data makes it possible to estimate the volume of operations conducted by the Bank of Russia on the currency market related to the replenishment and use of the National Wealth Fund.
The Central Bank is buying or selling foreign currency based on the amount of fiscal rule-based operations announced by the Finance Ministry adjusted for the amount to be sold totaling 8.4 billion rubles per day in H2 2024, from July 2 to December 28. The Central Bank conducted currency transactions with adjustment for sales of 11.8 bln rubles per day in H1 2024.
Given the transaction volumes the Finance Ministry has announced for September 6 to October 4, the Central Bank will be selling 0.2 billion rubles in currency per day - its sales were 7.8 billion rubles per day for August 7-September 5.
In august last year the Finance Ministry began purchases under the fiscal rule for the first time since February 2022. The daily volume of purchases then was the equivalent of 1.8 billion rubles and the total amount for the period through September 6 at 40.5 billion rubles. Since September 7, the scale of daily purchases was increased 7-fold in the period October 5, a total of 276.16 billion rubles or 13.15 billion per day was allocated; from October 6, a total of 398.72 billion or 18.12 billion per day was allocated for purchases, while from November 8, the volume increased to 621.1 billion rubles or 29.6 billion rubles per day. In December, the daily volume of purchases decreased 60% to 11.7 billion per day or 244.8 billion rubles in total.
The Finance Ministry conducted currency/gold sales on January 15, 2024 for the first time since the resumption of purchases, buying 69.1 billion rubles or 4.1 billion rubles per day between then and February 6. From February 7 to March 6, it made purchases for 73.2 billion rubles, or 3.7 billion rubles per day; from March 7 to April 4, purchases were 93.7 billion rubles, or 4.7 billion rubles per day; from April 5 to May 7 - 235.3 billion rubles, or 11.2 billion rubles per day; from May 8 to June 6 - 5.55 billion rubles per day, or 110.94 billion rubles in total; from June 7 to July 4 - 3.7 billion rubles per day, or 71.1 billion rubles; from July 5 to August 6 - 5.4 billion rubles per day, or 123.8 billion rubles; and from August 7 to September 5 they decreased to 1.12 billion rubles per day, or 24.65 billion rubles in total.
Source: https://interfax.com/