Central Bank to start operations with Chinese yuan on Moscow Exchange from Jan 13 as part of fiscal rule reboot

MOSCOW. Jan 11 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia will from January 13 resume operations for the purchase or sale of foreign currency in the domestic foreign exchange market in the framework of the Finance Ministry's implementation of the fiscal rule mechanism, the CBR said.

Operations will be carried out on the Moscow Exchange currency section with the "Chinese yuan - ruble" instrument with tomorrow settlement (CNYRUB_TOM).

The Central Bank will perform these operations evenly during each trading day of a month to minimize their impact on exchange rate dynamics.

The Finance Ministry said in a press release issued at the same time as that of the Central Bank that operations for the purchase or sale of liquid assets within the extent of oil and gas revenue windfalls or shortfalls are resuming "in order to increase the stability and predictability of domestic economic conditions, as well as reduce the impact of volatile energy market situation on the Russian economy and public finances."

The volume of such operations will depend on the amount of federal budget oil and gas revenues. If the projected oil and gas revenues exceed the base monthly level, the MinFin will carry out operations to purchase liquid assets in the amount of the additional oil and gas revenues. If an oil and gas revenue shortfall is predicted for a current month, then operations will be carried out to sell the corresponding volume of liquid assets.

"The resumption of operations in the domestic market in keeping with the updated fiscal rule parameters will help strengthen the stability and predictability of macroeconomic conditions, as well as the business environment for the non-public sector of the economy," the ministry said.