MOSCOW: Russia’s central bank announced on Wednesday it had halted its purchases of foreign currency on the back of a recent slump by the rouble.

Over the past few months as the rouble stabilised, the bank has been buying up foreign currency to replenish reserves it spent trying to prop up the plunging currency last year.

But officials said they have now halted the purchases due to a “growth of volatility on the domestic currency market” after the rouble plummeted this week to its lowest point since March as global oil prices dropped.

Renaissance Capital economist Oleg Kouzmin welcomed the central bank’s move as “a very rational and timely decision.”

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2015

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