Russian ruble hits lowest level since April 2022‎

Today, Friday, the Russian ruble fell to its lowest level against the dollar and the euro since April 2022, crossing the barrier of 90 rubles against the euro, amid a foreign currency crisis and the sale of Western companies in Russia.

According to Reuters, the ruble fell 1.1 percent against the dollar to 82.28 by 0930 Moscow time, and fell 1 percent to 90.06 against the euro.

Traders said that the ruble is under pressure due to a set of problems, including the sale of Western assets to local investors, which led to an increase in demand for the dollar, while the drop in oil prices in March led to a decline in export revenues.

The ruble recorded the third worst performance of a currency around the world since the beginning of the year until now, after the Egyptian pound and the Argentine peso, according to Reuters calculations, which also showed that the ruble witnessed the worst weekly performance so far against the dollar since July 2022.

Despite this, traders said that the recent rise in oil prices, after falling in March, is likely to support the Russian currency in the coming weeks. Russia is the second largest oil exporter in the world after Saudi Arabia

Oil prices, the lifeblood of the Russian economy, fell in late March. However, after the banking turmoil in the West and the OPEC + decision to cut production, prices have rebounded in the past days

Brent crude was trading at $70 a barrel in late March, but its price jumped to $85 a barrel on Thursday.

Asked about the ruble’s decline, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday, “Our energy prices have now gone up and this is an indication that there will be more foreign currency coming into the country. Consequently, this will cause the ruble exchange rate to go up.”