On Monday, Russians again needed almost 100 rubles to buy a dollar, reports one of the most popular Russian news sites, Lenta.

Banknote with a denomination of 100 rublesPhoto: Yevhen Sambulov / Panthermedia / Profimedia Images

The dollar rose above 99 rubles on Monday for the first time since August 15 this year, the same day that the Central Bank of Moscow raised the key interest rate by 350 basis points to 12%, an extraordinary measure to try to stop the collapse of Russia’s national currency against US dollars.

The Central Bank, led by its head Elvira Nabiullina, took such a measure after becoming the object of unusual criticism from the Kremlin on this matter.

“The main source of the depreciation of the ruble and the acceleration of inflation is soft monetary policy,” Maxim Oreshkin, economic adviser to President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, accused in an editorial published by the most famous Russian state agency TASS. news agency.

“The Central Bank has all the tools to normalize the situation in the near future and ensure that the interest rates at which loans are offered are reduced to a sustainable level,” he added at the time.

The Central Bank raised the base interest rate just a day after the article was published.

The head of Russia’s largest bank says the ruble is “unreasonably” weak

German Gref, the chief executive of Russia’s largest bank, said in an interview on September 13 that the ruble is “unreasonably” weak against the dollar amid measures taken by the Central Bank of Moscow to correct the situation.

“The ruble exchange rate is unreasonably weak,” Gref said in an interview with “Russia 1” TV channel.

Gref said the exchange rate should be 80-85 rubles to the dollar, noting that this estimate is based on a “detailed analysis of the fundamental value” of Russia’s national currency.

The Russian banker made the comments just two days after President Vladimir Putin tried to calm spirits about the evolution of the country’s national currency, speaking on the subject at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

“Overall, I don’t think there are any insurmountable challenges or difficulties here,” he said, referring to the ruble’s weakness last month.

The Central Bank of Russia raised the base interest rate again on September 15 from 12% to 13% in an attempt to stop the fall of the ruble.