Russian central bank sold $76 billion to prop up ruble in 2014: data

Russia's central bank in 2014 sold $76.1 billion and 5.4 billion euros in attempts to support the ruble, statistics published Monday said, as the currency continued to fall. Last year, the ruble lost 41 percent of its value against the dollar and 34 percent against the euro as a result of Western sanctions imposed over the crisis in Ukraine and the falling price of oil.
The ruble's fall plus Russian sanctions on most Western food imports led to price rises of 11.4 percent in 2014. The central bank's statistics showed that its largest interventions to prop up the ruble were in March, when Russia annexed Crimea ($22.3 billion), then in October ($27.2 billion) and in December ($11.9 billion) when oil prices fell sharply.
The falling ruble sparked panic among Russians in December, with people rushing to convert their savings into dollars or euros, peaking on December 15 and 16 when the ruble lost up to a quarter of its value in two days. The ruble then stabilised slightly but has remained weak in January as oil prices have continued to fall.
On Monday, the ruble fell in value against the dollar and euro after markets opened. It was worth 74.40 to the euro and 62.89 to the dollar at around 0900 GMT compared with 72.25 rubles to the euro and 61.55 rubles to the dollar on Friday. Russia's currency reserves in December fell below $400 billion for the first time in five years.