Russia's Central Bank (CB) has announced that it may increase its key interest rate to eight per cent as of early next year. According to reports in Moscow's daily newspaper, Kommersant, the Central Bank is considering adding 25 basis points to its key rate within the first three months of next year. This rise is [...]

Transforming the rouble into a commodities currency which is traded all over the world will be tough for Russia, say traders. The country hopes that the rouble with become an internationally-traded currency depends on curbing inflation and raising the spectrum of 'rouble-denominated instruments.' Kingsmill Bond, chief strategist at Troika Dialog, said, “The rouble is a [...]

Russia is losing up to one trillion roubles each year due to its state purchases system being rife with corruption and ineffectiveness. The announcement of the level of money lost each year has come as a big surprise as it is so high, even for an economy as large as Russia's. The corruption within the [...]

Russia’s Federal Grid Company has issued a seven-year 15-billion rouble bond to The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), making it the first Russian power company to achieve such a long maturity on a domestic bond. EBRD, whose investment in the bond amounts to 3.66 billion roubles, has taken up 24 per cent of [...]

While the stock market in Russia has had a poor summer, the country's bond market has picked up thanks to its risk-averse banks. Earlier this year, Russian state Eurobonds due to mature in 2020 were issued at a price of 99.3 to par. They dropped as low as 92.5 in May as investors sold them [...]

Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has said that he expects inflation to be higher and the rouble to be weaker than previously estimated over the next few years. These predictions from the finance ministry, which investors often pay more attention to than those from the economy industry, are in line with conservative forecasts by the [...]

President Dmitry Medvedev has asked Russia's oligarchs to donate money to help rebuild villages destroyed by the recent fires. The businessmen, who include Oleg Deripaska, owner of the world's largest aluminium firm, mining tycoon Vladimir Potanin and oil magnate Vladimir Yevtushenkov, have pledged to contribute millions of roubles to the recovery efforts. Mr Deripaska pledged [...]

Despite strong oil prices, the rouble's recent gains are being trimmed back due to concerns over the country's persistent heat wave and drought. International investor fears rose and risk aversion grew as they worried about the weather's impact on economic activity. According to dealers, Russia's forex market is extremely concerned about the impact of the [...]

A new trading platform allowing foreign investors to execute trades on the rouble-denominated Micex exchange without pre-depositing the cash or stock first, has been launched. Otkritie, one of Russia's largest brokers, has launched the platform, which allows investors to trade using 'direct market access' (DMA), a means for them to get access to the exchange [...]

Instability in the euro zone has resulted in decreased demand for high-yielding currencies such as the rouble – but the Russian currency remains one of the stronger commodity currency choices. After the weekend the rouble was down two kopecks to 34.57 when compared to the euro/dollar basket. Despite this, bank chiefs at ING Moscow say [...]