Category Archives: Rouble

Russia’s central bank hikes interest rates by 3.5 percentage points as rouble falls

Posted on by

Emergency decision is intended to halt slide after currency dropped to weakest point in almost 17 months

Russia’s central bank has hiked interest rates by 3.5 percentage points in an emergency move aimed at halting the rouble’s recent slide, after it fell to its weakest point in almost 17 months.

The decision to raise the key rate from 8.5% to 12% was announced after an extraordinary meeting of the bank’s board of directors, called after the rouble plunged past the psychologically key level of 100 to the dollar on Monday morning.

Continue reading...

EU comes to the crunch over Russia’s demands to pay roubles for gas

Posted on by

Brussels commissioner says energy ministers accept bowing to Moscow’s demands would breach sanctions, as payment date looms

Europe is facing a crunch point in mid-May when EU member states will have to reject Moscow’s demands for fuel payments to be made in roubles – despite being without alternative gas supply, Brussels has warned.

Kadri Simson, the European commissioner for energy, said on Monday that the Kremlin’s demands had to be rebuffed despite the risks of an interruption to supply at a time that the shortfall cannot be made good.

Continue reading...

Russia ‘preparing legal action’ to unfreeze $600bn foreign currency reserves

Posted on by

Elvira Nabiullina says lawsuits aim to release gold and foreign currency frozen amid Ukraine invasion sanctions

Russia is preparing to take legal action to challenge the freeze on its $600bn (£462bn) foreign currency war chest put in place by western governments after the invasion of Ukraine, the head of the country’s central bank has said.

Elvira Nabiullina said plans were being made to launch lawsuits after governments including the US, UK and EU froze the Russian central bank’s foreign currency reserves held within their jurisdictions.

Continue reading...

Moscow braces for rouble to crash at least 25% as new sanctions hit

Posted on by

Russian currency expected to plunge in first day’s trading since Swift ban and ECB says state-owned Sberbank subsidiaries are set to collapse

Moscow is bracing for economic panic when markets open on Monday morning, with the value of the rouble expected to plummet at least 25% after the US and European Union announced unprecedented sanctions over the weekend.

Those measures targeted the Russian central bank, which has intervened to prop up the value of the rouble following Vladimir Putin’s order to invade Ukraine. They also marked the first time Russian banks have been excluded from the Swift international payments system.

Continue reading...

Russian central bank buys up roubles to avert stock market collapse

Posted on by

Bank scrambles to prevent invasion of Ukraine sending Russia’s financial system into meltdown as currency hits all-time low

The Russian central bank has purchased millions of roubles to prevent the collapse of the Moscow stock exchange and prop up the currency after it plunged to an all-time low of 89.60 against the dollar.

In a scramble to prevent the invasion of Ukraine pushing Russia’s financial system into meltdown, officials in Moscow closed the stock exchange while the Bank of Russia mounted a rescue operation to put a floor under the skidding rouble.

Continue reading...