what Putin said, economists’ opinions: State Economics: Economics: Lenta.ru

Russian President Vladimir Putin statedthat the situation with the ruble exchange rate is under control, there is no need to worry about this. He also explained the exchange rate fluctuations.

On November 27, the Central Bank set the official dollar exchange rate at more than 108 rubles for the first time since March 17, 2022. On the same day, on the international Forex market, the dollar exceeded 114 rubles.

According to Putin, fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate are determined by many factors. This is due to payments to the budget and oil prices. “There are a lot of seasonal factors here,” the president said.

The Russian leader also spoke out about rising prices in the country. According to him, the Central Bank’s data on the inflation rate of 8.5 percent is real. He added that the tools to curb inflation may be different, but the decision on the key rate rests with the Bank of Russia.

The ruble was able to partially win back the fall

In the afternoon of November 28, the price of the dollar corrected up to 110.18 rubles. The Central Bank also began taking steps to save the national currency. In particular, on November 27 it was announced decision not to purchase foreign currency on the Russian market until the end of 2024. The Central Bank made the decision against the backdrop of a rapid decline in the exchange rate of the ruble against leading world currencies, including the dollar and the euro. On that day, the national currency exchange rate broke through several psychological marks.

Candidate of Economic Sciences Andrey Barkhota notedthat the depreciation of the ruble against leading world currencies was superimposed on abnormally high interest rates, problems with exports of products and a significant level of uncertainty. According to him, the Russian economy is facing a “perfect storm.” The sharp weakening of the ruble exchange rate, as the expert pointed out, could also have been influenced by the actions of speculative players in the financial market. They are trying to stock up on foreign currency – dollars and euros – in case of further devaluation of the ruble.

The State Duma explained the fall in the ruble exchange rate by increasing the key rate

This is the reason for currency changes named Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy Mikhail Delyagin. “Increasing the key rate in the context of an artificially created monetary shortage leads not only to an acceleration of price growth, but also to the devaluation of the ruble. We went through this many times in 2014. In the second half of last year, we also went through this,” he explained.

According to the parliamentarian, the only possible direction for mass investment is the foreign exchange market. This money is used to buy currency, and since the demand for currency grows sharply, the ruble exchange rate falls.

Economist Mikhail Belyaev, meanwhile expressed an opinionthat the weakening of the ruble requires emergency measures to stabilize. He noted that the ruble began to move downward as it began to react to the fact that the economy was being drawn into recession next year. “We need to take emergency measures. And this is the cessation of trading and transactions,” Belyaev said.