Russia, the worlds leading energy supplier and main oil exporter to Europe, has witnessed a considerable drop in its currency as the crude oil price is reaching almost a week of declines, as concerns regarding the global slump may slash global energy demand for the next months.
The Russian Ruble has been affected directly by the latest fall in the crude oil rates, which after rallying as the global economy showed several signs of recovery, faced yesterday the longest streak since December, losing more than 1 percent and reaching a rate of $61.99 a barrel in New York, the lowest price in two months, weighing negatively on the ruble, which is extremely linked to commodity prices due to the vast natural resources availability in the Russian country. Bank Rossii regulates the price of the ruble in a band to prevent exporters to lose competitiveness in global markets, and after last weeks speculations that measures would be taken to prevent ruble gains, oddly enough, the ruble went down due to international pessimism and risk aversion rise.
Analysts suggest that the new wave of pessimism, if continued, will affected not only the ruble but also Russian stock markets, which are mainly moved by the national energy companies. If the recession will be prolonged in Europe, the demand for oil will falter, affecting the Russian currency and economy in multiple sectors.
USD/RUB climbed to 31.8007 as of 9:41 GMT from 31.552 in the intraday comparison, being the fourth session in a row of gains for the greenback versus the ruble.
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