The ruble is close to a 5-year high against the euro

The Russian ruble stabilized above $ 64 per dollar on Monday, briefly reaching $ 62.71 per dollar, and strengthened to a five-year high against the euro, supported by continuing restrictions on foreign exchange trading, according to the Reuters agency.

The ruble is the best performing currency in the world so far this year, although this is due to artificial support from capital controls imposed by Russia to shield its financial system in late February, after launching its invasion of Ukraine.

The situation in the domestic foreign exchange market has been the same for several weeks and the ruble continues to stabilize as foreign exchange supply exceeds demand, said Alexander Dzhioev, an analyst at Alfa Capital.

Central bank data showed Monday that Russia’s current account surplus more than tripled to $ 95.8 billion from January to April, boosted by higher import revenues.

“It seems that the equilibrium point has not been found so far,” Dzhioev said of the ruble’s exchange rate.

It is unclear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand for gas payments in rubles has also offered support for the Russian currency.

It is noted that the ruble strengthened by 1.5% against the dollar to 63.59, close to its strongest level since the beginning of February 2020, at 62.6250, which “touched” on Friday.

“Current capital controls have brought the ruble back to pre-pandemic levels,” Rosbank analysts said, predicting that the ruble would slide to $ 90 per dollar by the end of the year.

Against the euro, the ruble rose 1.6% to 66.05, remaining close to its strongest level since June 2017, at 64.9425, which “touched” the Moscow Stock Exchange on Friday.

“The stabilization of the ruble today may be modest, but the dollar could gradually fall to 62,” Promsvyazbank analysts said in a statement.