The Russian currency witness a decline in against the US dollar

The Russian currency fell again on Tuesday morning and was trading at more than 100 rubles per dollar, despite the measures taken by the Central Bank to confront inflation and the weakness of the national currency.

For months, the ruble has been declining due to international sanctions following Moscow’s launch of its military attack on Ukraine, which was particularly reflected in the purchasing power of the population.

On the Moscow Stock Exchange, the ruble was trading at 100.11 against the dollar and 104.65 against the euro at 7:03 local time (04:03 GMT).

Later, the ruble rose slightly, but in the afternoon its value was approximately 99 to the dollar and 104 to the Euro.

This is the lowest level for the Russian Ruble since mid-August, when the ruble actually exceeded 100 to the dollar for the first time since March 2022, indicating the collapse of the Russian currency against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, tried to downplay the impact of this phenomenon on Russians.

He assured reporters that there is no reason for concern.

“There are certain fluctuations, but we all live in the ruble zone, so excessive interest in the dollar exchange rate is just a relic of the past,” Peskov said.

Last August, the Russian Central Bank raised the interest rate from 8.5% to 12%, during an extraordinary meeting held after criticism by Kremlin Advisor Maxim Oreshkin of the flexible monetary policy of the Russian Central Bank.

In mid-September, the key interest rate was raised to 13%.

However, the impact of the decision taken by the European Central Bank has been limited so far, in the absence of more stringent measures to monitor the exchange market and Russia imposing export restrictions on gasoline and diesel at the end of September.

After a year and a half of harsh international sanctions, and despite the rapid adaptation of the economy, the Russian economy is still facing several difficulties: rising inflation (+5.15% in August), a weak ruble, labor shortages in certain sectors, brain drain abroad, and a significant decline in… Revenues from the sale of fuel.

In this context, the Russian Central Bank expected, in mid-September, a slowdown in growth in the second half of this year.

In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Western sanctions had failed, but he denounced considering the decline of the ruble a cause of inflation in the country, and ordered the government and the Russian Central Bank to take the necessary measures to stabilize the situation.