The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation will still buy foreign currency on the open market, which is fraught with further weakening of the ruble. As Utro.ru writes, Deputy Minister of Finance Alexey Moiseev confirmed that the Ministry of Finance will enter the market with currency purchases at the end of August. “Based on the current volumes that will be transferred to the Reserve Fund, it will probably be closer to $40–50 million. This figure serves as a kind of maximum; in test mode it may be somewhat less,” the deputy minister explained. In the future, the Ministry of Finance may also enter the market with the sale of foreign currency if a decision is made not to replenish the Reserve Fund.

Initially, the head of the ministry, Anton Siluanov, announced the possibility of purchasing foreign currency, without ruling out that these actions could lead to a weakening of the exchange rate by one or two rubles. This initiative has caused serious concern in expert circles and among government officials. In fact, the Ministry of Finance’s proposal was perceived as the first step towards the planned devaluation of the ruble.

Judging by Moiseev’s statement yesterday, the idea of the Ministry of Finance buying up foreign currency and the subsequent weakening of the ruble will still be implemented. The Deputy Minister of Finance promised that the upcoming operation would not have negative consequences: the volume of purchases would be such “as not to cause any turbulence in the market.” However, the official did not guarantee that this would not lead to a significant change in the exchange rate. “We have free exchange rates. We are simply moving from a non-market mechanism to a market one. Its consequence may or may not be a weakening of the ruble exchange rate,” Moiseev said.

The very statements about the upcoming purchase led to a depreciation of the national currency. According to the Central Bank, in June 2013, the real effective exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar decreased by 3%, and against the euro - by 4.5%. At the same time, the nominal exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar fell by 3.2% last month, and by 4.7% against the euro.

Get ready. There will still be devaluation of the ruble