Posted: Aug 14, 2023 12:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: 16 minutes ago
The meeting was set after President Vladimir Putin's economic adviser, Maksim Oreshkin, blamed the weak ruble on "loose monetary policy" in an op-ed Monday for state news agency Tass. He said a strong ruble is in the interest of the Russian economy and that a weak currency "complicates economic restructuring and negatively affects people's real incomes.
The Russian economy is now "working on different types of state orders related to the war, such as textile enterprises, pharmaceuticals and the food industry," said Alexandra Prokopenko, nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and a former Russian central bank official. Russia typically sells foreign currency to counter any shortfall in revenue from oil and natural gas exports and buys currency if it has a surplus.The central bank also enacted a big increase of 1 per cent to its key interest rate last month, saying inflation is expected to keep rising and the fall in the ruble is adding to the risk. The next meeting to discuss Russia's key interest rate was planned for 15 September."Prices will rise, which means that the standard of living will fall.