'The Bank of Russia determined the exchange rates at 25.73 RUR per one U.S. dollar and 35.03 RUR per euro on May 9, 2007. Within the next two days, the U.S. and European monetary authorities are expected to take their decisions regarding changes in the current rates; in the meantime, the issue is open up to speculation,’ SKB-Bank’s employee Sergey Vetyshev says.

'Most analysts believe the U.S. Federal Reserve System meeting on the open markets will result in the rate remaining the same; yet the unemployment statistics published the other day (the unemployment rate has gone up this April, and the U.S. Department of Labor had to reduce the figures it provided on the number of vacancies) give ground for thinking the rate will have to go down after all,’ he reports.

'The Bank of England, in its turn, will most likely raise its rate by .25%, which is going to support the pound, whereas European Central Bank will probably leave the rate as it is, in which case the future of the euro is going to depend on the comments provided after the ECB meeting. If these comments give any hint related to the possible increase in the rate figures this June (and this is not improbable), euro will get a lot of backing,’ Mr. Vetyshev believes.

'If the current status quo is retained in Europe and the U.S., we might get the new exchange rates of 25.7 to 25.67 RUR per one U.S. dollar and 35.07 to 35.09 RUR per euro.’

This information was reported by SKB-Bank.