Speaking to reporters, a senior US Treasury official said the government believed the real value of the ruble was deeply depreciated, citing Russia’s rapid inflation and the devalued black market exchange rate. The ruble traded at about $ 86 per dollar on the interbank market on Friday after falling as low as $ 150 per dollar in early March. Its current value against the dollar is not far from the level of February 23, a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine. However, the ruble does not act as a convertible currency, as sanctions have led to a collapse in imports of goods and services with businesses and consumers largely unable to buy goods in international markets or travel abroad. Economists attributed the recovery in interbank markets to Moscow’s tight monetary controls, which prevented Russians from transferring money to foreign bank accounts or withdrawing significant amounts of cash from the country. Moscow has also temporarily banned banks and brokers from conducting cash-based foreign exchange transactions in dollars and euros. Russia’s inflation rate has jumped 6 percent in the past three weeks as Western central bank sanctions prevent the country from gaining access to half of its foreign exchange reserves, cutting off access to a cushion it had built. to reduce the blow. of penitentiary measures. Karl Schamotta, head of market strategy at Corpay, said: “The exchange rate information at the moment is not the same as in any other large economy. The fact is that we have created a one-way valve: money flows to Russia but not abroad. “And that will force the exchange rate to rise over time,” he said. “The black market is between 110 and 140 for dollar / ruble transactions. Thus, citizens who want to buy dollars or euros pay much higher costs than what we see in the interbank market. Schamotta added: “Clearly the sanctions that have been imposed have affected the real economy, the non-energy, non-core economy and are imposing huge costs on households.” Speaking to reporters, the Treasury official said the United States believed it still had the potential to extend sanctions in the future as the EU continued to reduce its dependence on Russian energy imports and other raw materials. The official said that the US designed the sanctions to maximize the cessation of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, while at the same time trying to minimize the negative impact on global supply chains and in particular in the EU. Therefore, it was more important for the US, EU and UK to be united in sanctions, making it harder for Russia to circumvent the restrictions, rather than for Washington to impose the toughest possible measures, the official said.
