Russian central bank to meet on Tuesday as ruble tanks
The Russian central bank said it would meet on Tuesday to discuss its key rate, after the ruble slid past 100 against the US dollar on Monday, its lowest level in over sixteen months. The ruble has shed around 30 percent of its value against the dollar since the beginning of the year, as the country grapples with a drop in export revenues, rising imports and higher military spending. The central bank said it would meet on Tuesday in a surprise meeting to consider the key rate, which was only recently hiked to a greater-than-expected 8.5 percent in July. The results of the meeting will be announced at 10:30 local time (0730 GMT), the central bank said. Data from the Moscow Exchange showed the ruble trading at 100.02 to the dollar at 1416 GMT after the news, recovering slightly after reaching its lowest level since March 23, 2022 earlier in the day. Against the euro, the ruble traded at around 109.15 – earlier tumbling to a near 17-month low. News of the central bank meeting came after Kremlin aide Maxim Oreshkin criticised what he called "loose monetary policy" in an opinion piece published by the state-run TASS news agency on Monday. He said the central bank had all the "necessary tools" to address the situation and predicted the ruble exchange rate would return to normal in the near future. (AFP)