But the authorities do not like the strength of the ruble. However, they do not know how to tame it.
The Russian ruble was flat in Wednesday trading as stocks edged higher, protected from a wide-ranging global sell-off in recent days by Moscow’s capital controls.
At 14:20 Moscow time, the ruble was unchanged against the dollar at 56.58 and added 0.1% to trade at 59.1 against the euro.
The currency remains near multi-year highs thanks to Russia’s widening current account surplus and the recently relaxed capital controls that Moscow imposed after Western sanctions were imposed in an attempt to stem the ruble’s fall.
Isolated from the turmoil in world markets, Russian stock indices rose in trading in Moscow. The dollar-denominated RTS index rose by 0.56% to 1280.3 points. The Russian MOEX index, denominated in rubles, grew by 0.52% and amounted to 2,301.7 points.
The Russian political and business elite arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday for the annual Russian Economic Forum.
Once emblematic of the Kremlin’s openness to international investment, this year’s conference includes discussions on sanctions and the exit of Western businesses.
Hundreds of companies have left Russia in response to Moscow sending tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine as part of a special military operation.
At the same time, the authorities cannot yet stop the ruble from strengthening. The strengthening ruble is a challenge for the Russian economy, Maxim Reshetnikov said. Inflation and economic recession may be lower than expected; the country is going through the crisis better than expected in March, this may be the basis for adjusting the forecasts, in June the MED will reassess, he added.
Materials used: Thomson Reuters
