Russian Ruble Strengthens to 2-Year High

2025-11-28 16:04 By Andre Joaquim 1 min. read

The Russian ruble strengthened past 77.5 per USD hovering close to its strongest level in over two years as the fresh repatriation of assets by export-oriented industries magnified the impact of strict capital controls and high interest rates.

The US government placed sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft, Russia's two largest oil companies and exporters, prompting the giants to repatriate reserves to ruble-denominated domestic accounts to prevent the possible freezing of assets by Western governments.

This was after the Kremlin's mandated export-oriented companies to sell 40% of their foreign exchange revenue.

Also, the Bank of Russia said it will keep policy restrictive until the end of next year to curb inflationary pressures, limiting the impact of its unexpected 50bps cut.

The prolonged effect of Western sanctions, government spending that prioritizes the war against Ukraine, and high borrowing costs drove the IMF to forecast that Russia's GDP will only grow 0.6% this year.



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