Russian central bank head Elvira Nabiullina out on the wires 9 Feb
- finance ministry-requested purchases will have neutral impact on liquidity
Gotta be careful what they say or Big Bad Donald will not be best pleased.
- banking sector has moved to liquidity surplus
- expects growth in lending to real economy of 4-7% in 2017
- in any scenario even with oil at $40 there will be small growth in 2017
The CB has been buying USD since Tuesday on behalf of the finance ministry , part of efforts to re-stock the reserve fund while Urals crude oil price stays above $40
The plan is to buy around $1bln each day this month (sell 6.3bln roubles) . It may not be intervention per se but it is helping to add some dip-demand against a generally retreating trend.
