The Russian ruble fell 8% in the week against the dollar

The Russian ruble rose against the dollar today, but closed with losses for the third consecutive week, with the central bank of Russia further restricting access to foreign currency, according to Reuters.

The ruble has lost a third of its value on Moscow stock exchanges since Russia invaded Ukraine last month as the local economy weighed down due to Western sanctions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine has reached a “strategic turning point” in the conflict with Russia, but Russian forces have bombed cities across the country and appear to be regrouping for a possible attack on the capital, Kyiv.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the US and the G7 announced that they are putting tmember of the “rather favored state” trade regime for Russia.

The ruble closed 3.7% higher at 114.25 for the day against the dollar on the Moscow stock exchange, while on a weekly basis it fell by 8.1%, having lost more than 32% of its value in the last three weeks.

Goldman Sachs raised its year-end inflation forecast to 20% from 17% in part due to the further devaluation of the ruble.

Against the euro, the ruble gained more than 3% on Friday at 121.03 in Moscow, after hitting an intra-conference low of 132.4175 on Thursday. Its decline was 1.7% for the week and 28% over three weeks.

Trading in the stock market remained largely closed on Friday by order of the central bank.

The Russian business newspaper Vedomosti quoted sources as saying that the central bank and the Moscow Stock Exchange were considering a gradual resumption of local trading next week. The main point of the discussion was how to start the negotiation in a way that will prevent the collapse, the sources told Vedomosti.

On Thursday, the central bank imposed restrictions on local businesses ‘access to foreign currency cash for the next six months, after previously restricting citizens’ access to cash in hard currency.

From March 10 to September 10, local companies and businesses wanting US dollars, Japanese yen, British pounds and euros in cash can only receive up to $ 5,000, and only to pay for business trips abroad.

Russia’s economy is facing the worst crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, when the West imposed severe sanctions on almost the entire Russian financial and corporate system.