Balances at correspondent accounts grow - 7 February, 2003

Balances at correspondent accounts of Russian commercial banks increased at the beginning of business today. Throughout the country this advance amounted to 3.8bn rubles (about $119m) and in the Moscow region to 3.6bn rubles ($113m). This has been the largest gain since February 3, 2003. As a result the current favorable situation with ruble liquidity has improved further. According to specialists of commercial banks, one-day ruble credit rates are only 1-2 percent at present. Even taking into account the coming weekend, credit rates do not exceed 6 percent. Yesterday, the overnight ruble credit rate was 4-5 percent.