The official ruble-dollar exchange rate hit 55.75 rubles per dollar on Monday. However, it also touched the stronger level of 55.44 during the day, marking the best result since early July 2015. Against the euro, the ruble gained 0.6 percent to close just below 58.50 rubles per euro.
Best-performing currency
The ruble has thus become the world’s best-performing currency so far this year, gaining around 26 per cent against the dollar and euro since the start of the year. However, this development is due to the strict measures taken by the Russian authorities to artificially inflate the ruble.
This is because exporters must compulsorily convert at least 80 percent of their export earnings into rubles, which increases demand for them. And as the Russian central bank is able to control the supply of rubles on the market, their value is rising. A tribute to this is that the ruble is not a freely convertible currency, as few foreign entities have reason to hold it.
Critic by the head of the Bank of Russia
However, the restrictions were indirectly criticised by the head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, at a recent economic forum in St Petersburg. It proposed that the restrictions should be relaxed and the ruble become a freely traded currency again.
