The Russian ruble collapsed to a new low on November 27. The currency is rapidly losing ground against the dollar and euro for the second consecutive week, continuing a downward trend that has persisted for several months.
These figures were recorded on the Forex website on Wednesday afternoon.
As of today, the exchange rate shows that 1 euro costs 119 rubles, while 1 US dollar is being traded for 113 rubles. Notably, the dollar has risen by more than 5% in just one day.
This level is very close to the historical low of the Russian ruble. At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on March 7, 2022, the exchange rate reached 115 rubles per dollar.
According to Reuters, the Russian ruble has depreciated by over 24% since early August, marking the onset of its current decline.
“The ruble's drop has caught economists off guard, as they expected the Russian currency to stabilize around 100 to the dollar within a year, according to a Reuters poll conducted in early November. Last week, it hit a 32-month low,” the publication reports.
Many analysts predict that by the end of the year, the ruble's exchange rate could reach 115–120, with some urging the government and the Central Bank to take action, such as requiring exporters to sell more currency and reducing state purchases.
Analysts note that the ruble's decline has been exacerbated by new sanctions on Russia's financial sector, which have disrupted foreign trade payments, particularly for oil and gas, leading to a physical shortage of currency in the Russian market.
It is worth mentioning that on November 22, the Russian ruble broke through the 103 rubles per US dollar and 108 rubles per euro mark.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Russian "Gazprombank" and six of its foreign subsidiaries. Currently, more than 20 countries have stopped servicing these cards, as shown in our infographic.
The infographic from "Slovo i Delo" also illustrates how in Russia they predict a "dollar collapse" and how the ruble's exchange rate against the US currency is changing.