With Russian President Vladimir Putin blaming external factors for economic woes, Central Bank reveals efforts to prop up nation's currency. File photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI |
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MOSCOW, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- With low oil prices and Western sanctions taking their toll, the Central Bank of Russia said it was forced to take action to keep the national currency stable.
The Russian currency is recovering somewhat, valued at about 56.45 to the U.S. dollar, up from recent lows of around 65 rubles to the U.S. dollar. In mid-December, the Russian Central Bank raised its key interest rate by 6.5 percent to 17 percent in an effort to arrest the decline of the nation's currency.
In a Wednesday statement, the bank said it sold more than $80 million on the national currency market this week in an effort to keep the ruble stable.
With the value slipping from 33 rubles to the U.S. dollar, the bank revealed it's spent about $90 billion to prop up the currency since the beginning of the year.
Russia depends on oil and gas for more than half of its revenues. Western sanctions imposed in response to the Kremlin's policies on Ukraine, coupled with a steady decline in crude oil prices since June, have pushed the Russian economy toward the brink of recession.
An annual report from the European Commission said the Russian economy was entering a period of stagflation. The Kremlin, for its part, said it expected to economic growth to fall below 1 percent in part because of investment uncertainty and sanctions pressure.
Russian oil output might be curbed by market mechanisms resulting from the low price of crude oil, while Russian President Vladimir Putin said there would be no increase in state deficits despite sanctions on Russian energy companies.
In early December, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the economy never fully emerged from the global economic crisis six years ago.
