diff --git a/libavcodec/ra144.c b/libavcodec/ra144.c
index bd4f621db6..1fd4f522b0 100644
--- a/libavcodec/ra144.c
+++ b/libavcodec/ra144.c
@@ -292,13 +292,11 @@ static int dec2(signed short *decsp, const int *data, const int *inp,
 {
     unsigned const int *ptr1,*ptr2;
     int work[10];
-    int b;
+    int b = NBLOCKS - a;
     int x;
     int result;
     unsigned short *sptr  = decsp;
 
-    b = NBLOCKS - a;
-
     ptr1 = inp;
     ptr2 = inp2;