Russian Ruble Rises to Near 3-Year High

2025-12-05 10:56 By Andre Joaquim 1 min. read

The Russian ruble appreciated past 76 per USD in December, its strongest in nearly three years, amid high interest rates by the Bank of Russia and the plunge in domestic demand for foreign currency due to the international isolation of Russia's economy.

Mounting sanctions against the Russian central bank and key businesses prevented domestic market players from transact in hard currency, driving their fixes by the CBR to surge through the year.

This was exemplified by the 96% plunge in ruble pair trading compared to before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while data from the CBR indicated that nearly 60% of Russian exports were paid in rubles, compared to 14% in 2021.

The latest sanction measures included sanctions against Lukoil and Rosneft, the country's largest oil companies, while the EU confirmed it will phase out Russian LNG by 2027.

Meanwhile, the CBR said it will keep policy restrictive until the end of next year to curb inflationary pressures, also supporting the ruble.



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