The Russian Finance Ministry believes that the rouble's current strength makes it attractive to buy foreign exchange for budgetary purposes, including paying off sovereign debt, RIA news agency cited a deputy minister as saying on Tuesday.
"In terms of managing our own expenditures, we certainly believe that the rouble is now very strong and so we plan accordingly, to buy (forex) in advance," Alexei Moiseev told journalists. The rouble has firmed recently to multi-month highs, but it fell after Moiseev's comments. At 1040 GMT, it was trading 0.4 percent lower on the day at 49.35 against the dollar.