Russian Ruble Hits 16-month Low

The Russian ruble hovered near the 85 per USD mark, not far from the 18-month low of 87 as Russia's fuel crisis hampered foreign exchange flows. Ukraine delivered a wave of strikes against Russian oil assets and refining infrastructure through August. Consequently, Russian petroleum production shrank by 160 thousand barrels per day to 8.718 million bpd in August, the second-sharpest reduction this year. On top of that, attacks on Russia's major refiners cut capacity on production of gasoline and diesel, driving Moscow to ban exports of fuel and swing the Russian economy into an importer of refined product. This triggered an aggressive reversal in goods and capital flows from the Russian financial system, forcing foreign currency outwards and driving the ruble to nosedive from the three-year high of 71 on May 28th to the current 18-month low. In turn, ruble supply rose as the federal government was forced to issue soaring levels of debt to make up for the plunge in energy revenues.

The Russian Ruble touched 87.52 against the USD, the lowest since March 2025. Over the past 4 weeks, US Dollar Russian Ruble gained 6.93%, and in the last 12 months, it increased 6.7%.

The Russian Ruble touched 87.09 against the USD, the lowest since April 2025. Over the past 4 weeks, US Dollar Russian Ruble gained 8.19%, and in the last 12 months, it increased 5.92%.