The Bank of Russia announced the sale of foreign currency for the first half of 2024

The Central Bank declared the amount of foreign currency sales for 2024 without consideration of the fiscal rule.

The Ministry of Finance will adjust the daily amount of 11.8 billion rubles depending on the excess revenues from oil and gas.

The ruble exchange rate will be positively impacted by foreign currency sales.

Beginning on January 9, the Bank of Russia will be initiating operations on the domestic foreign exchange market in order to add to and draw from the National Welfare Fund (NWF).

The Central Bank reported on its website on Thursday that the daily volume of currency sales in January-June 2024 may amount to 11.8 billion rubles, not taking into account the adjustment of this amount to the volume of monthly oil and gas excess profits.

In January, the Bank of Russia will also finish the sale of currency as part of the "mirroring" of the net investment of NWF funds in allowed financial assets in rubles in the first half of the year. These sales will amount to 0.8 billion rubles per day.

After a hiatus of nearly five months, the Central Bank will be back in action on the domestic foreign exchange market. In August, the Ministry of Finance had suspended the purchase of foreign currency (RMB) as part of the budget rule due to the ruble's sharp depreciation. In November, the regulator declared its return to the foreign exchange market.

Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Bank of Russia, declared this week that the Central Bank could act as a currency purchaser if the price of Brent oil reaches $88–90 per barrel.