MOSCOW, January 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Central Bank could establish a free floating rate system for the national currency within three years, a senior CBR official said Wednesday.
"We will be able to create objective conditions for the ruble's free floating in three years' time," First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev said.
He said the main challenge would be to redress imbalances on Russia's forex market, where supply still disproportionately exceeds demand.
Ulyukayev said transition to a floating exchange rate would enable the CBR to adopt inflation targeting as a framework for its monetary policies.
Earlier, he said inflation was slowing year-on-year due to the de-dollarization of the Russian economy, which stood at $5 billion in 2006.
According to Russia's federal budget, the 2007 target inflation is 6.5-8%, against 9% in 2006.
