RBC, 22.02.2008, Moscow 10:52:35.Less than an hour into today’s special dollar trading session for tomorrow deals, the weighted average exchange rate stood at 24.46 RUB/USD, which is RUB 0.07 lower than the official rate set by the Bank of Russia for February 22. The ruble’s appreciation against the dollar can be attributed to the US currency’s unremitting recession against the euro on international exchanges. The latter is now trading at USD 1.4815, up from USD 1.4810 at the opening of the session. Consequently, the euro has added 0.03 percent against the dollar on the global market over a short period.
RBC, 22.02.2008, Moscow 09:58:42.The Finance Ministry has approved the list of 15 foreign state agencies that the National Wellbeing Fund is permitted to invest in, the ministry’s press office said. The agencies include the American Mortgage Lending Corporation, US federal home loan banks, and US federal farm credit banks. In addition, the fund’s resources could be invested in a number of debt instruments issued by Spanish, Austrian, German, Dutch, British and French government organizations. As reported earlier, the National Wellbeing Fund’s resources amounted to RUB 782.8bn (approx. USD 31.98bn) as of January 31, 2008.
RBC, 22.02.2008, Kiev 09:34:10.Prime Ministers of Russia and Ukraine Viktor Zubkov and Yulia Tmoshenko are due to meet in Kiev in April during a session of the Russian-Ukrainian intergovernmental commission for environmental cooperation, Ukrainian PM Yulia Timoshenko told journalists upon her arrival from Russia. She elaborated that the two sides have arrived at the stage of target planning, with a clear objective set for each area of cooperation. The specific plans are to be outlined in Kiev in April.