MOSCOW: Russia's finance ministry is expected to buy more foreign currency in May as oil prices rise, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.
The finance ministry is seen buying the equivalent of 300 billion roubles ($4.73 billion) between May 8 and June 6, up from the 240.7 billion roubles ($3.79 billion) it had planned to buy in the previous month, a survey of nine analysts and economists showed.
In daily terms, the finance ministry is expected to buy 14.3 billion roubles worth of foreign currencies between May 8 and June 6, up from 11.5 billion roubles it said it was planning to buy every day between April 6 and May 8.
The ministry is on track to increase purchases of foreign currency after a recent rise in prices for oil, Russia's key exports, analysts at Raiffeisenbank said in a note.
The finance ministry, which started buying foreign currency early last year to beef up Russia's reserves, is expected to publish its FX purchasing plan on Monday, May 7.
Urals, Russia's blend of crude oil, traded near $71 a barrel on Thursday. Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, were at $73.62, down from their three-year highs of over $75 seen last month.
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