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The ruble strengthens against the dollar to levels it has not had since 2015
Moscow, 29 (.).- The ruble was trading this Wednesday on the Moscow Interbank Stock Exchange at 50.8 units per dollar, a level of strength that it has not exhibited since 2015 against the US currency and that raises the concern of the Russian Government for its impact on the country’s economy.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said today that his portfolio is willing to influence the price of the ruble against major international currencies by buying currency from “friendly countries.”
“Before, the Ministry of Finance (…) accumulated excessive income from oil and gas in foreign currency, in the National Welfare Fund and others. Now foreign currency is toxic,” he said at the congress of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Russia (UIER).
To influence the parity of the ruble against the main convertible currencies, Finance is willing to “invest in the currencies of friendly countries,” he said.
“Through the currencies of the countries, with the exchange rates crossed with the dollar and the euro, it will be possible to regulate the value of the ruble with respect to the dollar and the euro,” he explained.
Among the measures that Finance proposes to put an end to the strengthening of the ruble, Silúanov highlighted the lifting of the obligation to repatriate foreign currency earnings.
The Government and the Central Bank of Russia maintain divergent positions on what is the optimal price of the ruble for the country’s economy.
Recently, the number two of the Russian Government, Andréi Belousov, affirmed that in the Executive there is a more or less consensual opinion that the optimal parity is in the range of between 70 and 80 rubles per dollar, which in his opinion would have to return “as soon as possible”.
However, the governor of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiúlina, spoke out today against artificially influencing the parity of the ruble against the main currencies.
“We are in favor of maintaining the flexible exchange rate, because it gives the economy the possibility of adapting to new conditions,” assured the head of the Russian monetary entity at the UIER congress.
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