(Bloomberg) -- Russia’s central bank set the ruble’s exchange rate at more than 100 per US dollar for the first time in more than a year after Ukraine used US-supplied missiles to strike in Russia for the the first time.
The Bank of Russia has used interbank transactions to calculate the rate since June, when the US sanctioned the Moscow Exchange — which immediately halted dollar and euro trading. Still, the national currency has been steadily falling against the greenback for weeks and weakened slightly to 100.0348 per US dollar, data from the Bank of Russia showed Tuesday.
Eastern European assets were buffeted after President Vladimir Putin approved an updated nuclear doctrine that would allow Russia to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional attack on its soil that threatens its sovereignty.
Overnight, Ukrainian forces carried out their first known strike in Russia using Western-supplied missiles, attacking a military warehouse in the Bryansk border region.
A weaker ruble isn’t a concern now and will benefit the state budget amid plans for increased spending next year, two people with knowledge of the situation earlier told Bloomberg. Officials expect the ruble at an average level of 96.5 per dollar in 2025 compared to an average 91.2 per dollar this year, a forecast from the Economy Ministry showed.
Russia’s currency twice weakened past 100 against the dollar last year, with the first instance prompting the Bank of Russia to hold an emergency meeting to hike the benchmark by 350 basis points. The government imposed capital controls to ease pressure on the ruble after it fell below the 100 level in October of last year.
In the immediate aftermath of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the ruble also weakened to around 120 per dollar, but quickly rebounded.
The ruble also slightly declined against the Chinese yuan to 13.7744, according to the central bank.
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