08/17/1998 07:28:17 RUSSIA-ROUBLE-RATE

MOSCOW, Aug 17 (Reuters) - The Russian central bank and government said on Monday the rate of the rouble would be set according to the results of daily trade on the market rather than by a pre-determined central bank buy and sell rate. "The official exchange rate of the rouble will be determined according to the results of operations on the exchange and non-exchange sectors of the internal market," the central bank and government said in a statement. The government and central bank would introduce limits on non-residents' currency operations to protect the Russian market from short-term speculative flows, it said. However, these limits would not prevent the central bank and government from maintaining the convertibility of the rouble, it said.