Russia is ready to sacrifice part of its budget to intervene in the foreign exchange market and weaken its ruble currency. This was stated by the Russian Finance Minister. The ruble reached its highest level since 2015.
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a dollar was worth more than 80 rubles, today it is only 52 rubles. This situation resulted from measures taken by Moscow to protect the Russian economy from Western sanctions and reduced imports. However, the strong ruble is putting pressure on the Russian government as it undermines exports.
“The ruble exchange rate is vital for exporters, so we decided within the government to study the proposals this coming week,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said during a forum with representatives from the business world.
Income from oil and gas
The minister said the government was “ready to sacrifice part of the budget by using surplus oil and gas revenues to intervene in the foreign exchange market” and contain the ruble.
Specifically, this will involve buying currencies from “friendly” countries – which Moscow did not impose sanctions on after the Russian invasion of Ukraine – to weaken the ruble against foreign currencies, including the dollar and the euro.
“I see this as the final action on heavy artillery,” said Siluanov, who confirmed that no final decision had been made yet. Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov already publicly criticized his colleague’s plan on Wednesday. “We do not consider this proposal a solution to the current situation,” he said.
See also: The inflation rate has risen to 9.65 percent in our country
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