OREANDA-NEWS. October 27, 2008. The Bank of Russia sees no reasons for ruble devaluation or to impose restrictions on capital flows which were abolished more than two years ago, First Deputy CBR Chairman Alexei Ulyukaev said. "Devaluation presupposes a sharp decline in value versus other currencies. I therefore see no reasons for such devaluation. So far we have a healthy balance of payments, a surplus and have large reserves" – Ulyukaev said on the air of Echo of Moscow radio station. "All the fundamentals of our economy are not bad and the financial crisis, the effects of which we are facing, does not mean that the ruble should plunge in value compared to other currencies" – he said.

CBR regulates the ruble exchange rate within the technical band of the bi-currency basket (USD 0.55 and EUR 0.45) and the band is as wide as about 4% of the value of the basket. At the peak of this range CBR sells foreign currency and buys when the range hits the bottom. "At present, we see no reasons to revise the target band". ""If the dollar firms vs. the euro on international markets, and this is exactly what we are facing, it also firms against the ruble. However, we are making these fluctuations smoother. The basket is about fifty-fifty and, roughly speaking, if the dollar appreciates 1% against the euro, we smooth this wave by half as much, i.e. 0.5%... We do not play against global trends, although we do intend to protect our citizens and companies to a certain extent from this roller-coaster ride" – Ulyukaev said.

According to Ulyukaev, net inflow of private foreign capital into Russia stood at USD 0.8 bn in 9M 2008, however, this is preliminary estimate. The bulk of outflow fell occurred in August and September this year, with outflow during the two months reaching some USD 32 bn (some USD 7 bn in August and USD 25 bn in September), Ulyukaev said.