Ruble Hits 100 Against the Euro As Currency Collapse Accelerates

[Superboy]

dollar to ruble dropped to 53

euro to ruble dropped to 65

 

[Hindustani78]

As Ruble Settles, Inflation Becomes Russia's Next Big Problem | Business | The Moscow Times
Dec. 25 2014

Russia said its currency crisis was over on Thursday but warned that inflation is set to climb above 10 percent, adding to the problems facing President Vladimir Putin's government as it fights its worst economic crisis since 1998.

"The key rate was raised in order to stabilize the situation on the currency market … That period has already, in our opinion, passed. The ruble is now strengthening," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the upper house of parliament on Thursday.

The ruble slumped to 80 per dollar in mid-December from an average of 30-35 in the first half of 2014. It has strengthened in the last few days to trade as strong as 52 per dollar on Thursday, in part thanks to government pressure on exporters to sell hard currency.

Russia imports large amounts of food, high-tech equipment and cars. As the ruble weakens it has to pay more for its imports, which pushes up inflation at home and in turn encourages people to protect their earnings by buying dollars, thereby adding to the pressure on the ruble.

Russian international reserves assets decreased from $420.5 billion to $416.2 billion, according to the central bank. Are you saying that Russian central bank is not holding foreign reserves ?

Russian reserves fall below $400 billion, first time since 2009 - The Economic Times
25 Dec, 2014

MOSCOW: Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves dropped below $400 billion for the first time since August 2009 as of Dec. 19, the central bank said on Thursday.

The central bank has spent over $80 billion defending the rouble this year, as a sharp slide in oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis have driven the Russian currency sharply lower, threatening financial stability.

The bank has expanded its foreign-currency repurchase agreement operations in response to market instability, offering banks foreign currency for a period of one week, 28 days and one year, to ease a deficit of dollars and euros.

Analysts said around $5 billion of the $15 billion fall in the week to Dec. 19 was because of interventions to support the rouble, while around $7 billion was due to foreign currency loaned to banks as part of repo operations.

Since that foreign currency will be returned to the central bank at a later stage, the reserves could recover some of the losses in the near or mid-term, they said, adding that the remainder of the losses were likely due to shifts in the value of the bank's foreign-currency holdings.

 

[Superboy]

As Ruble Settles, Inflation Becomes Russia's Next Big Problem | Business | The Moscow Times
Dec. 25 2014

Russia said its currency crisis was over on Thursday but warned that inflation is set to climb above 10 percent, adding to the problems facing President Vladimir Putin's government as it fights its worst economic crisis since 1998.

"The key rate was raised in order to stabilize the situation on the currency market … That period has already, in our opinion, passed. The ruble is now strengthening," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the upper house of parliament on Thursday.

The ruble slumped to 80 per dollar in mid-December from an average of 30-35 in the first half of 2014. It has strengthened in the last few days to trade as strong as 52 per dollar on Thursday, in part thanks to government pressure on exporters to sell hard currency.

Russia imports large amounts of food, high-tech equipment and cars. As the ruble weakens it has to pay more for its imports, which pushes up inflation at home and in turn encourages people to protect their earnings by buying dollars, thereby adding to the pressure on the ruble.

Moscow Times is a Russia hating newspaper from Finland. Why they call themselves MOSCOW Times is beyond me.

They trade currencies on Christmas Day? They don't take holiday?

 

[nvKyleBrown]

Moscow Times is a Russia hating newspaper from Finland. Why they call themselves MOSCOW Times is beyond me.

They trade currencies on Christmas Day? They don't take holiday?

Currency is traded world-wide these days. Most of the world is not Christian, so why would they take the day off? They have their own holidays that Christians don't take off. Except for in India, which per my acquaintances there, takes all holidays for every religion. I think they are exaggerating a bit.

 

[alimobin memon]

Western propaganda trust me the EU is going to pay a huge price for this.

 

[Hindustani78]

Russian reserves fall below $400 billion, first time since 2009 - The Economic Times
25 Dec, 2014

MOSCOW: Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves dropped below $400 billion for the first time since August 2009 as of Dec. 19, the central bank said on Thursday.

The central bank has spent over $80 billion defending the rouble this year, as a sharp slide in oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis have driven the Russian currency sharply lower, threatening financial stability.

The bank has expanded its foreign-currency repurchase agreement operations in response to market instability, offering banks foreign currency for a period of one week, 28 days and one year, to ease a deficit of dollars and euros.

Analysts said around $5 billion of the $15 billion fall in the week to Dec. 19 was because of interventions to support the rouble, while around $7 billion was due to foreign currency loaned to banks as part of repo operations.

Since that foreign currency will be returned to the central bank at a later stage, the reserves could recover some of the losses in the near or mid-term, they said, adding that the remainder of the losses were likely due to shifts in the value of the bank's foreign-currency holdings.

TASS: Economy - Russia to add $4.7 billion to Reserve Fund in 2014

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Russia’s Finance Ministry will replenish the country’s Reserve Fund by 250 billion rubles ($4.7 billion) in 2014, of which 100 billion rubles ($1.9 billion) will be used to boost VTB Bank’s second-tier capital, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday.

“We’ll channel some resources into the Reserve Fund, partly because our ministries and departments will underperform a part of their obligations,” Siluanov said.

“We plan to channel about 250 billion rubles into the Reserve Fund,” the finance minister said.

Of this amount, 100 billion rubles “should be invested in securities, those resources, which we plan to use to recapitalize VTB Bank,” he said.

 

[Hindustani78]

Russian Economy Shrinks for First Time Since 2009 | Business | The Moscow Times

Russia's economy shrank sharply in November and the ruble resumed its slide on Monday as Western sanctions and a slump in oil prices combined to inflict the first contraction in GDP since the global financial crisis.

The Economic Development Ministry said gross domestic product shrank 0.5 percent last month, the first drop since October 2009. With oil exports forming the backbone of the economy, analysts said the contraction is likely to worsen.

The slide on the oil market accelerated this month after the exporters' group OPEC refused to cut output, and prices are down almost 50 percent from a peak in June. On top of this, the sanctions imposed over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis have deterred foreign investment and led to over $100 billion flooding out of the Russian economy this year.

"With the current oil price we expect things to get worse. There is no cause for optimism," said Dmitry Polevoy, chief economist for Russia and the CIS at ING Bank in Moscow.

"This is linked to sanctions first of all, oil and the panic we saw on the market in December. The damage to the banking system and consumer sentiment will take a long time to repair," Polevoy said.

The sanctions have severely reduced the ability of Russian companies to borrow abroad, triggering the worst currency crisis since Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998.

The ruble, which had strengthened on Friday, slumped over 6 percent against the dollar in early trade on Monday in thin trade, although it later regained some of the losses.

Overall the ruble's weakness will inevitably lead to higher inflation next year by pushing up the cost of imports, threatening President Vladimir Putin's reputation for ensuring Russia's prosperity.

Government ministries forecast the slump in oil prices will lead to a 4 percent contraction of the economy next year and that inflation could exceed 10 percent.

Falling Ruble

The ruble had lost more than half of its value at one stage in December, although it has recovered since then after the government introduced informal capital controls and raised interest rates steeply.

The government issued orders to large state-controlled oil and gas exporters Gazprom and Rosneft to sell some of their dollar revenues to shore up the ruble.

Russians have kept a wary eye on the exchange rate since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hyper-inflation wiped out their savings over several years in the early 1990s and the ruble collapsed again in 1998.

At 2:27 p.m. in Moscow the ruble was trading at 56.40, much weaker than the 30-35 seen in the first half of the year but well up from a low of 80 per dollar in mid-December, its lowest point since the financial collapse of 1998.

The falling ruble has prompted huge buying of foreign currency in Russia and heavy withdrawals of bank deposits, heaping pressure on a vulnerable banking sector whose access to Western capital markets is restricted by the sanctions.

On Friday, Russian authorities also significantly scaled up rescue funds for Trust Bank, saying they would provide up to $2.4 billion in loans to bail out the mid-sized lender, the first bank to fall victim to the crisis.

 

[Echo_419]

Russian Economy Shrinks for First Time Since 2009 | Business | The Moscow Times

Russia's economy shrank sharply in November and the ruble resumed its slide on Monday as Western sanctions and a slump in oil prices combined to inflict the first contraction in GDP since the global financial crisis.

The Economic Development Ministry said gross domestic product shrank 0.5 percent last month, the first drop since October 2009. With oil exports forming the backbone of the economy, analysts said the contraction is likely to worsen.

The slide on the oil market accelerated this month after the exporters' group OPEC refused to cut output, and prices are down almost 50 percent from a peak in June. On top of this, the sanctions imposed over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis have deterred foreign investment and led to over $100 billion flooding out of the Russian economy this year.

"With the current oil price we expect things to get worse. There is no cause for optimism," said Dmitry Polevoy, chief economist for Russia and the CIS at ING Bank in Moscow.

"This is linked to sanctions first of all, oil and the panic we saw on the market in December. The damage to the banking system and consumer sentiment will take a long time to repair," Polevoy said.

The sanctions have severely reduced the ability of Russian companies to borrow abroad, triggering the worst currency crisis since Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998.

The ruble, which had strengthened on Friday, slumped over 6 percent against the dollar in early trade on Monday in thin trade, although it later regained some of the losses.

Overall the ruble's weakness will inevitably lead to higher inflation next year by pushing up the cost of imports, threatening President Vladimir Putin's reputation for ensuring Russia's prosperity.

Government ministries forecast the slump in oil prices will lead to a 4 percent contraction of the economy next year and that inflation could exceed 10 percent.

Falling Ruble

The ruble had lost more than half of its value at one stage in December, although it has recovered since then after the government introduced informal capital controls and raised interest rates steeply.

The government issued orders to large state-controlled oil and gas exporters Gazprom and Rosneft to sell some of their dollar revenues to shore up the ruble.

Russians have kept a wary eye on the exchange rate since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hyper-inflation wiped out their savings over several years in the early 1990s and the ruble collapsed again in 1998.

At 2:27 p.m. in Moscow the ruble was trading at 56.40, much weaker than the 30-35 seen in the first half of the year but well up from a low of 80 per dollar in mid-December, its lowest point since the financial collapse of 1998.

The falling ruble has prompted huge buying of foreign currency in Russia and heavy withdrawals of bank deposits, heaping pressure on a vulnerable banking sector whose access to Western capital markets is restricted by the sanctions.

On Friday, Russian authorities also significantly scaled up rescue funds for Trust Bank, saying they would provide up to $2.4 billion in loans to bail out the mid-sized lender, the first bank to fall victim to the crisis.

Russia is a freaking Developing country how can they go in Negative

 

[Hindustani78]

Russia is a freaking Developing country how can they go in Negative

US and EU sanctions imposed on Moscow will bring an abrupt halt to exploration of Russia's huge Arctic and shale oil reserves and complicate financing of existing Russian projects from the Caspian Sea to Iraq and Ghana which has hurted Russian Federation and then Russian Federation placed ban on Western food item which was mainly to move towards Asian side which was in real policy of Russian federation to make EEA a reality. Now have to see how USA and EU countries will stop the whole block ? Russian Federation is even involving Chinese and Indians to their side. India is having a well balanced policy and its not going like Chinese. Chinese are working to bring down dollar and even Euro.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

War would be justified by Russia to take gold reserves in Saudi Arabia and Iraq

 

[Hindustani78]

War would be justified by Russia to take gold reserves in Saudi Arabia and Iraq

At this moment, Russian Federation is expanding itself in Arctic region and making bases.

TASS: Russia - Air force and air defense army for Russia's Arctic to be in place 2015 — General Staff
Russia’s Defense Ministry is going to build 13 airdromes and 10 radars in the Arctic.
Russia announced it was recreating its military base on the Novosibirsk Islands in the Laptev Sea. An airfield was opened on Kotelny, the largest island of the archipelago. Another military airport, Rogachyovo, commissioned on the southern island of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, is capable of accommodating fighter jets.

The construction of the Tiksi airdrome in Yakutia’s northernmost locality, inside the Arctic circle, will be completed in 2015. Three airdromes - in the Alykel community (the Krasnoyarsk Territory), in Vorkuta (the Komi Republic), and in Anadyr, the administrative center of Chukotka, will be expanded.

Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said in late October that Russia will have full radar coverage of the Arctic region this year, while next year it will be ready “to meet unwanted guests” both from the north and from the east.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Logically if you were a Empire (Russian Empire) and your currency was getting devalued , you would ideally want to invade a country that had tones of Gold and Money

1- Russia should make landfall in Saudi Arabia (Occupy Riyadh and Jeddah)
Drop in soldiers

2- Force the Oil prices to go up

3- Convert the Ruble to Gold

4- Negotiate trade on fair grounds or Invade Europe


I mean what can a peaceful Nation like Russia can do , when wolves of wall street are busy with their dirty tactics

 

[boomslang]

just speculation set by america, Russia should seriously go to war with america and bomb them to the ground. As long as america is in ruin nothing is more important as the cancer from this world would be finally cured.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!

 

[FaujHistorian]

War would be justified by Russia to take gold reserves in Saudi Arabia and Iraq

yeah.

Walk in the park baby.

Walk in the bloody park,

 

[boomslang]

Logically if you were a Empire (Russian Empire) and your currency was getting devalued , you would ideally want to invade a country that had tones of Gold and Money

1- Russia should make landfall in Saudi Arabia (Occupy Riyadh and Jeddah)
Drop in soldiers

2- Force the Oil prices to go up

3- Convert the Ruble to Gold

4- Negotiate trade on fair grounds or Invade Europe


I mean what can a peaceful Nation like Russia can do , when wolves of wall street are busy with their dirty tactics

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith said it best when he said,' Dream on, dream on, dream on, dream until your dream comes true.' It's funny that a sheet my toilet paper is worth MORE than a ruble. And a 17% prime ? HAHAHAHAHAHA !!! Here comes the next Zimbabwe !!!!