Authorities decided to increase foreign currency purchases
Authorities decided to increase foreign currency purchases after the dollar exchange rate exceeded 80 rubles. The Ministry of Finance announced that next month it will increase foreign currency purchases according to the budget rule: from August 7 to September 4, it will acquire foreign currency and gold worth 136.2 billion rubles, or 6.5 billion rubles per day.
Consensus
- The Ministry of Finance will increase foreign currency and gold purchases from August 7 to September 4.
- The total amount allocated for purchases during this period is 136.2 billion rubles.
- The daily purchase volume will be 6.5 billion rubles, up from 5.4 billion rubles in the previous period.
- The increase is due to higher-than-expected oil and gas revenue in July and projected in August.
- The operation is conducted under the budget rule.
- The Central Bank will continue selling 0.6 billion rubles of foreign exchange daily to compensate for funds from the National Wealth Fund outside the budget rule.
- The ruble has been weakening since June, losing 14% against the dollar and yuan since May's lows.
- The dollar and yuan reached 81 and 12 rubles respectively.
Points of divergence
- The Ministry of Finance's announcement was unexpected by the market, with analysts from Sberbank expecting a reduction in purchases. — tg_moscowtimes_ru
- The increase in purchases is 'significantly higher than expectations' according to economist Yegor Susin. — tg_moscowtimes_ru
- The increase in purchases is bad news for the ruble, which is already under pressure. — tg_moscowtimes_ru
- The yuan rose 0.8% to 12.02 rubles before retreating to close at 11.99 rubles. — tg_moscowtimes_ru
- The Central Bank reduced daily sales of foreign exchange from the National Wealth Fund to 0.58 billion rubles per day, a decrease of nearly eightfold. — vedomosti
- In June, the Ministry of Finance spent 208.2 billion rubles on purchases, or 9.9 billion rubles per day. — vedomosti
- The Ministry of Finance resumed operations under the budget rule in May 2026 after a two-month pause. — vedomosti
Coverage (2 sources)
- Authorities decided to increase foreign currency purchases after the dollar rate exceeded 80 rubles — The Moscow Times
- Ministry of Finance will increase daily foreign currency purchases by 20% — Ведомости