DUAL CURRENCY BASKET

Dual currency basket is a relative indicator used by the Bank of Russia when implementing the policy of the national currency exchange rate. The dual currency basket defines the ratio of the Russian ruble to the US dollar and the euro in particular proportion.

The dual currency basket appeared in Russia 10 years ago. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation implemented it on February 1, 2005. Before that, the ruble was oriented only towards the US dollar. The initial ratio of the ruble to two main currencies equaled €0.1 and $0.9. Then, the regulator raised the euro volume in the basket, at the same time cutting the volume of the greenback. So since February 8, 2007, the dual currency basket amounted to €0.45 and $0.55. New readings were given to smooth fluctuations of the national currency rate against major world currencies. Meanwhile, the Bank of Russia provided flexible exchange rate management.

In February 2009, the Bank of Russia launched an automated correction of the corridor of the dual currency basket that was dependent on the number of interventions made. Later, the width of the floating operating interval was 2 rubles. Then, this figure was raised several times to increase flexibility of the exchange rate.

Since January 2009, there had been fixed upper and lower limits of the corridor that made up 41 and 26 rubles a dual basket, respectively. However, in October 2010, the Russian regulator removed those limits. The minimum level of the current basket on official exchange rates of 29.27 was logged on August 5, 2008. The maximum rate of the current basket of 40.93 was fixed on February 6, 2009.

The corridor of the dual currency basket changes in regard to its prints and therefore the basket rate may change within a day. If the ruble weakens, the upper limit of the basket shifts. But in case the national currency gains ground, only the lower level shifts.

One should pay attention to the dual currency basket in order to use the average value of the world currencies exchange rates in calculations, excluding the effect of the EUR/USD rate fluctuations on the global markets. The dual basket is an important indicator when the economy is stable, and which can curb the total balance of the Russian ruble exchange rate. To calculate the exchange rate of the currency basket, one should multiply the ruble rate to the euro by the euro share in the basket, multiply the ruble rate to the US dollar by the US dollar share in the basket, and then add these figures.