The Russian ruble weakened the 54 per USD mark, falling from the 7-year high of 47.75 touched June 29 amid eased capital controls and government efforts to devalue the currency. The CBR increased the limit for cross-border money transfers to the equivalent of $1 million from $150 thousand. At the same time, the finance minister said that Russia may start buying foreign currency from “friendly countries” to counteract the sharp increase in the ruble. Still, the ruble remains the world’s best performing currency year-to-date, supported by large trade imbalances and remaining capital controls. Despite Europe’s effort to limit purchases of Russian energy and commodities, large exports to Asia at soaring prices kept the demand for the ruble robust. Also, a collapse in importing activity due to sanctions halted domestic demand for the dollar, exacerbating hefty fees and negative interest rates that banks apply on deposits of currencies from “unfriendly" states.
Historically, the Russian Ruble reached an all time high of 150 in March of 2022. Russian Ruble - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on July of 2022.
The Russian Ruble is expected to trade at 59.30 by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 69.10 in 12 months time.