Loading ...MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Central Bank on Monday scrapped its daily controls on the value of the ruble, allowing the battered currency to float freely in financial markets earlier than planned.
The bank, which had planned to let the ruble trade freely starting next year, made the move as the currency has come under sustained pressure in the face of Western sanctions over Ukraine and plummeting oil prices. The ruble has lost nearly half its value against the dollar this year.
The bank said, effective Monday, it will stop setting daily limits for the ruble’s fluctuations and will not have any obligation to intervene in financial markets to support the currency. To prevent a sharper drop in the ruble, however, the bank said it will be ready to intervene if necessary to fend off “threats to financial stability.”
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