Russia Undoing Free Float a Sign to Investec of Wrong Path Taken

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Russian monetary policy options are narrowing after the central bank took the “wrong path” by resuming foreign-currency purchases to build up its reserves, according to Investec Asset Management.

“It muddies the waters,” Grant Webster, a portfolio manager at Investec who helps oversee $2 billion in emerging market debt, said in an interview in London on Friday. “If you don’t have a floating currency and monetary policy is hindered because inflation is not falling as quickly, they can’t cut as quickly. And I think the central bank wants to cut.”