MOSCOW: Russia's central bank said Tuesday that it had spent $4.5 billion last week to prop up the ruble, which has plunged over falling oil prices.
The Russian currency lost almost a quarter of its value in November, and the trend has continued in December, with the ruble dragged down by the falling oil price and the ongoing Ukraine crisis.
Russia is heavily dependent on its energy revenues, which contribute to half of its annual output.
On Tuesday as the price of oil fell to its lowest level in more than five yers, the ruble slid close to the record it set last week. At around 0900 GMT, the ruble was trading at 54.23 to the dollar and 67.05 to the euro.
The Bank of Russia said Tuesday that in interventions to support the ruble last week it spent $700 million on Monday, $1.9 billion on Wednesday and another $1.9 billion on Friday.
Russia's central bank in November changed tactic and ended systematic interventions whenever the ruble fell sharply.
It now takes action only when it considers the financial system to be under threat, in a move to thwart speculators.
Russia still has more than $400 billion in reserves. But that is 20 percent less than in the beginning of the year due to the dual onslaught of Western sanctions imposed over the crisis in Ukraine and falling crude prices.
The central bank has raised interest rates by four percentage points since spring, to a current level of 9.5 percent, and could further raise rates at its next meeting on Thursday.
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