The Russian ruble rebounded on Friday to the strongest levels against the euro and dollar since June 2015 and March 2018, respectively. Analysts attribute the move to preparations by EU countries to pay Russia for gas and capital controls imposed by Moscow.
Russia said on Thursday that half of gas giant Gazprom’s 54 customers have opened accounts with Gazprombank, as European companies approach looming deadlines to pay for their gas supplies.
Opening such accounts became possible after EU executives allowed member countries to continue buying Russian gas without breaching the series of sanctions collectively imposed on Russia over what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine that began on February 24th.
One of the main reasons for the Russian currency’s rise is the shift from euros to rubles that will take place in European payments, said Yuri Popov, a strategist at SberCIB Investment Research, a unit of Russia’s largest bank Sberbank.
The ruble was up more than 5% at 61.10 against the euro on the Moscow exchange after touching 59.02, the strongest level since June 2015.
Against the dollar, the currency rose more than 4% on the day to 59.10 after hitting 57.0750, a level not seen since late March 2018.
The ruble has firmed up around 30% against the dollar this year despite a full-scale economic crisis in Russia, making it the best-performing currency, albeit artificially underpinned by controls imposed in late February to protect the sector. Russian finance.
Source: CNN Brasil
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