Russia's Finance Ministry said it would increase its daily purchases of foreign currency for state reserves to the equivalent of 16.1 billion roubles ($256.74 million) between May 10 and June 6. Total purchases for the upcoming period will be equivalent to 322.8 billion roubles, the ministry said.
Analysts polled by Reuters predicted the ministry would increase purchases of foreign currency and buy a total of 300 billion roubles between May 10 and June 6, according to a consensus forecast of nine analysts. The ministry said it was increasing its purchases of dollars as it anticipated to receive extra revenues from oil and gas exports thanks to higher prices for oil, Russia's key export.