ST. PETERSBURG, June 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Central Bank estimates that the country's net trade surplus for the period January-May 2009 was $35 billion, the bank's deputy chairman told journalists at the St. Petersburg economic forum on Saturday.
Earlier a deputy economics minister, Andrei Klepach, said that Russia's trade surplus hit $27.3 billion for January-April, in comparison with the same period in 2008, when the figure was $65.3 billion.
Alexei Ulyukaev also said that the Central Bank had purchased less than $1 billion to restrain the ruble on the exchange market, which was also lower than the period February 1 - May 25 when the bank spent more than $30 billion on strengthening the ruble.
The top bank official predicted that Russia could move towards a free floating regime for the ruble in 2010, but only if conditions were suitable, including an acceptable balance of payments and a mechanism allowing the system to be regulated through interest rates.
"I wouldn't rule out 2010," Ulyukaev said, "We have a much more liberal system now that a year ago. We have an extremely wide corridor [currency basket] 26-41 rubles."
He also dismissed reports that the Central Bank had stress-tested the Russian banking system.
"We have not carried out a stress test, and have no negative information. We think that the situation with the banking system is completely acceptable," Alexei Ulyukaev said.
