Updated 12:03 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, October 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Central Bank transferring the ruble to a floating exchange rate beginning in 2015 will not serve as an additional factor in weakening the country’s national currency, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Wednesday.
“In my understanding, the ruble is already a floating currency. I don’t think that anything will change in principle,” Ulyukayev said.
On October 13, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that some 500 billion rubles ($12.4 billion) from the Reserve Fund may be spent in 2015 to bolster the currency, provided that oil prices and the dollar-ruble exchange rate remain at current levels.
On October 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Central Bank would adopt a floating exchange rate to support the national currency.
"I do not see any possible dramatic changes here. I am confident that with the change in oil prices, [the bank] will also adjust the rate of the national currency, the rate of the ruble," Putin added.
As of September 1, the Reserve Fund holds an equivalent of $91.72 billion.
Earlier in October, Putin said that Russia has enough reserves to meet state budget expenditures regardless of global political and economic trends.
