Balance at correspondent accounts drops

The balance of correspondent accounts at Russian commercial banks decreased again at the beginning of business today. The retreat in the balance at Russian commercial banks amounted to 7bn rubles ($222m) and the balance eased back 2bn rubles ($63.5m) at banks in the Moscow region. This has been the third fall in a row since last Thursday. The balance of correspondent accounts at Russian commercial banks has dropped 14bn rubles ($444m) and 7.5bn rubles ($238m) at banks in the Moscow region since July 11. As a result the balance of correspondent accounts at Russian commercial banks amounted to 64.650 billion rubles (about $2.05bn) as of the beginning of business on July 15, which has been the lowest balance since April 23. The balance of the correspondent accounts at the banks in the Moscow region reached 37.683 billion rubles (about $1.19bn), which has been the lowest balance since May 21, 2002.

As a result the decrease in balances led to the increase in ruble credit rates. The one-day ruble credit rate is more than 15 percent in the second half of the day. The high of the tomorrow deals on US currency is some 31.54 RUR/USD.