Russia's finance ministry yesterday widened the provision of emergency budget funding to Russia's banking system, a sign that despite $130bn (€90bn, £71bn) of additional liquidity to the country's financial markets announced last week, the banking system is still under pressure.

Previously the number of banks with access to budget funding, which is longer term than central bank lending, was restricted to the country's three largest banks, Sberbank, VTB, and Gazprombank, but yesterday's decision increases that list to 28.