MOSCOW, March 3 (Reuters) – The Russian Central Bank still
has “lots of room” to raise interest rates and can further
increase its involvement in the domestic foreign exchange market
to stabilise the rouble, Central Bank First Deputy Governor
Ksenia Yudayeva said on Monday.
The central bank raised its key lending rate by 150 basis
points on Monday to 7 percent in an attempt to stem capital
flight.
“We still have lots of room to raise interest rates … and
we can further increase our presence in the currency market,”
Yudayeva said in an interview on the Rossiya-24 news channel.
The rouble fell to all-time lows on Monday against the
dollar and the euro as investors sought safe havens from
the risk that Russia, after seizing control of the Crimean
peninsula, might go to war with Ukraine.
It closed 2.2 percent down against the dollar
after traders said the central bank had spent at least $10
billion to prop it up.
