Russian finance minister says rouble will stabilise in 2015

Russia’s rouble rebounded on Friday after the country’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said his ministry had sold foreign currency and on expectations that exporters will step up dollar sales.

At 12:15 on Friday the rouble had gained 4.25% on the dollar to 59.55 and 4.28% against the euro to 73.10, after a week that had seen the Russian currency plummeted 20% against the dollar.

The rouble’s decline threatened to undermine the country’s financial stability, even though Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia will stabilise its economy within two years.

Siluanov said that the rouble would stabilise in 2015 and analysts believe the government is trying to restore faith in the Russian currency, at a time when the country’s central bank has spent over $80bn defending the currency so far this year, amid a slump in oil prices and Western sanctions.

Analysts at Rosbank, one of the country’s main banks, believe the central bank's somewhat conservative approach to rouble liquidity could lead to the currency stabilising at around 60 to 62 rubles per dollar.