© Reuters The ruble continues 2022, the currency market’s strongest voice
Financial Associated Press, May 13 (Editor Shi Zhengcheng) On Friday, local time, the Russian ruble, which is backed by natural gas and oil, continued to appreciate, and the exchange rates against major currencies hit milestone highs for many years, consolidating the “2022 world‘s most important currency”. strong currency” status.
For example, the exchange rate of USD/Russian ruble hit 62.62 at its lowest on Friday, which is also the first time that the U.S.-Russian currency pair has fallen below 63 since February 2020; and the euro, which faces the difficult choice of “Ruble for natural gas”, is even more difficult. After falling 6% against the ruble this week, it has hit its lowest level since 2017.
Analysts at Russian bank Promsvyazbank expect the ruble to gain momentum on Friday, but the exchange rate will gradually approach the 65 line before the weekend.
(USD/RUB, EUR/RUB daily chart, source: TradingView) Correspondingly, after Biden triumphantly boasted that Western sanctions had turned the ruble into “rubble”, the ruble was stronger than the dollar and the euro. The appreciation rate has more than doubled.
There is no secret behind the continued strength of the ruble. After Russia announced that if an “unfriendly country” wants to import natural gas from the country, it must open a ruble account for settlement and payment in the country’s bank, the exchange rate of the ruble quickly stopped falling and played the “strongest sound in the currency market” so far in 2022.
Although the EU ostensibly opposes the “gas ruble”, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi also made it clear on Wednesday that most gas importers have opened ruble accounts with Russia’s Gazprom Bank. The Italian Prime Minister also said that EU officials have not said what it means to violate the sanctions, nor have they said whether paying rubles for energy is a violation of sanctions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia is confidently meeting external challenges thanks to responsible macroeconomic policies in recent years, as well as systematic decisions to strengthen economic sovereignty, technology and food security.