The Russian ruble continued to rise against the dollar and the euro during trading on Friday, helped by capital controls imposed by Russia and the agreement of Europe’s largest buyer of Russian gas to a new Russian payment system due to fears of disruption to Russia’s energy supplies.
The Russian payment mechanism obliges companies to open two accounts with their own Russian Gazprombank, one in euros or the contractual currency and the other in rubles, provided they deposit euros or dollars into the first account, which is then converted into rubles to complete payment.
Italy’s Eni, one of Europe’s largest buyers of Russian gas, agreed this week to open both accounts with the first payment under the new terms in the coming days, while France’s Engie SA said it was testing a new payment mechanism. gas flow and do not violate European sanctions.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khosnolin indicated that “the region, which includes the Ukrainian cities of Melitopol and Kherson, which are under Russian control, will begin to use the Russian ruble as its currency, which has contributed to increased demand for the Russian ruble.”
The Russian currency rose 6.15% to 58.28 rubles against the US dollar at 12:35 p.m., and also rose 3.60% against the euro to 63.31 rubles after hitting 61.46 rubles earlier in trading.
Source: El Iktisad
