MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian ruble will stabilize around $100 against the U.S. dollar after the period of volatility in the wake of U.S. sanctions on Russia’s financial sector, CEO of Russia’s second-largest lender Bank VTB Andrei said Kostin told Reuters on Monday.
The Russian currency weakened 15% against the US dollar after the United States on November 22 imposed sanctions on Gazprombank, which handled Russia’s energy trade with Europe and was a major supplier of foreign exchange to the Russian market.
“In 2022, if you remember, the dollar reached 120 rubles. A correction is already happening, the dollar is slightly above 100, and I think it will remain at this level,” Kostin said.
Kostin said the share of US dollar assets on VTB’s balance sheet has declined dramatically due to Western sanctions.
‘Previously, half of the bank’s balance sheet consisted of dollars, and any exchange rate movement had a significant impact on us. But now we don’t care anymore,” Kostin said.
“I understand that exporters are happy (with the exchange rate increase following a new package of sanctions from the US Treasury) while importers are not very happy, but to a large extent this is an emotional outburst,” he added.
