Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday there was no reason to worry about the falling Russian ruble, which slumped this week to its lowest level since March 2022.
The currency has dropped sharply after Washington sanctioned a raft of Russian banks involved in foreign trade, amid escalating tensions of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The situation is under control. There are certainly no reasons for panic,” Putin told reporters in Kazakhstan.
Russia’s central bank set its official exchange rate for the currency at 108 against the US dollar on Wednesday — around 10 percent lower than a week ago.
It also halted foreign currency purchases in a bid to shore up the ruble, which used to trade at around 75-80 against the US dollar before the war.
Putin dismissed the idea that Russia’s war on Ukraine was to blame for the state of the currency.
“As for the ruble exchange rate, it… is related to both budget payments and oil prices. Here there are a lot of seasonal factors,” he said at a news conference following a summit of Russia’s allies in Astana.
Russia’s economy has grown strongly since it sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, supported by a massive ramp-up in military spending.
But inflation is running at more than double Russia’s official 4.0-percent target and the latest fall in the value of the ruble is set to put yet more pressure on Russians’ spending power.
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