Russia to increase state FX purchases to record high

Russia's finance ministry is expected to increase its daily buying of foreign currency for the state reserves to the equivalent of 18.7 billion roubles ($302 million) after a recent rise in oil prices, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. The median forecast of 12 analysts polled by Reuters was for the ministry to buy the equivalent of 374.5 billion roubles from June 7 to July 5, up from 322.8 billion roubles in the previous period.
The volume of buying in June is expected to be the highest since the ministry started replenishing the forex reserve fund in early 2017, said Stanislav Murashov, an analyst with Raiffeisenbank in Moscow.