Russian central bank to resume foreign currency purchases from Feb. 1

The Russian central bank said Friday it decided to recommence from Feb. 1 the foreign currency purchases in the domestic market that were postponed in 2018 as part of fiscal rule implementation.

"The postponed purchases will be carried out gradually in the 36 months since the launch of these operations," the bank said in a statement.

These operations will increase the daily amount of foreign currency purchases in the domestic market under the fiscal rule by 2.8 billion rubles (around 42.4 million U.S. dollars), it said.

The Bank of Russia reserves the right to suspend foreign currency purchases in the domestic market under the fiscal rule in the event of financial stability threats, the bank added.

The bank suspended foreign currency purchases on Aug. 23, 2018.

Prior to the suspension, the central bank had purchased daily a pre-announced amount of foreign exchange on behalf of the Finance Ministry under the Russian fiscal rule, which allows channeling additional revenues from energy exports for building up its reserves.