Russia's top lending institution, Sberbank, is forecasting growth of between 15 and 20 per cent in retail deposits for 2010 and predicts that deposit rates will continue to fall. Sberbank is a huge state-controlled financial institution, dating back to the Soviet era, and is reputed to be the safest bank in the country. Following the [...]

The recent rally of the Russian rouble came to a standstill this Friday, 26th February, as domestic companies were completing monthly tax payments and concern about the pace of global economic recovery put pressure on crude oil prices. This morning, the rouble was trading at 34.84 versus the dollar-euro basket, four kopeks weaker than at [...]

The Russian Central Bank (CBR) today announced a cut of 25 basis points in its refinancing rate, bringing the rate down to 8.50%. The CBR hopes to stimulate growth in the economy with this monetary policy easing. The strength of the rouble has been helping to keep inflation down and there is a small upside [...]

Today saw the rouble hit its strongest level of the year, closing in on the current boundary of the central bank's floating trading band on the back of higher oil prices and upcoming domestic tax payments. Dealers have forecast that the regulator's boundary could be reached as early as tomorrow after the currency firmed as [...]

The Russian government’s finance ministry signaled on Friday that it was planning to continue financially supporting the Moscow region. A statement from the ministry to journalists today suggested that more financial bailouts were on the cards for the indebted region, which was the greatest beneficiary of state financial aid in 2009. The government has already [...]

Russian energy giant Gazprom has revealed its profits surged 33 per cent between July and September 2009. Lower taxes and foreign exchange gains owing to a weakening of the rouble against the dollar have been credited with the rise. Gazprom, which meets around a quarter of Europe's gas needs, said net profit for the third [...]

Russia's largest mobile phone operator, which took advantage of a strong rouble and low global interest rates by borrowing aggressively abroad before the recession, has said it has no plans to change its debt level in 2010. MTR claims it is comfortable with its current burden of gross debt, which stands at 1.8 times OIBDA. [...]

Investors have been uncertain about the long-term fate of the oil-driven rouble, but the International Monetary Fund said today that the Russian currency is set to strengthen quickly and solidly. At a government conference on economic modernisation, the body's representatives claimed that "real appreciation puts strong emphasis on structural reforms". Russia's central bank has been [...]

This week saw the rouble rocket to its biggest one-day gain against the dollar since March 1999 as stocks in Russia opened the trading year in Moscow with a bang. The Russian currency increased to 29.3045 per dollar, driven by positive economic news, investor enthusiasm for global markets and $80 oil. Analysts have predicted, however, [...]

As part of its aims to replenish some of the $200 billion in reserves spent in late 2008 and early 2009 to prop up the rouble, Russia is compiling a list of banks to help launch the country's first international bond in almost ten years. Prompting analysts to herald one of the most high-profile emerging [...]