Russian ruble continues to gain value against greenback

ANKARA

Russia's ruble on Friday rose 1.07% against the US dollar trading at 56.60 to the greenback.

Looking back, over the last four weeks, USD/RUB gained 4.07%.

The currency stood well above levels prior to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The all-time low of 150 touched in March.

Russia has run a huge current account surplus due to import bans, accelerating the de-dollarization of its economy and driving the appreciation of the ruble.

Another reason for the strong ruble is that monetary authorities imposed fees and negative interest rates on currencies from "unfriendly" countries.

Russia's central bank cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points from 8% to 7.5%, to below pre-invasion levels.

According to the central bank's forecast, annual inflation will go down to 11-13% in 2022, to 5-7% in 2023, and return to 4% in 2024.