At the end of March and beginning of April this year, Russians began to sell dollars and euros in cash. Citizens begin to do this against the background of exchange rate fluctuations, Wrote The newspaper Izvestia quotes representatives of the three largest banks.
Citizens convert cash dollars and euros into rubles and buy yuan, tenge and dirham, according to the publication. Russians are fixing their profits by getting rid of American and European currencies, which were bought at a lower rate – in early April their value rose a year ago.
Since the end of March, the Russian ruble has weakened by 9% against the US dollar – from 76.6 to 83.5 rubles, and against the European ruble – by 10.5% from 82.6 to 91.3 rubles. A year ago, it was trading at these levels in early April 2022.
Therefore, according to experts interviewed by the newspaper, people want to reduce their own risk by abandoning toxic Western currencies.
The Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance attributed the depreciation of the ruble to the decline in export revenues at the beginning of the year. Some experts agreed that the dollar could return to 80 rubles by May.