Russian Ruble is Year's Best-Performing Currency

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
May. 12, 2022

The Russian ruble, which Biden said two months ago had been "reduced to rubble," is the world's top performing currency of 2022.

"As a result of our unprecedented sanctions, the ruble was almost immediately reduced to rubble," Biden said on March 26. "The Russian economy is on track to be cut in half. It was ranked the 11th biggest economy in the world before this invasion — and soon, it will not even rank among the top 20."

As a result of our unprecedented sanctions, the ruble was almost immediately reduced to rubble.

The Russian economy is on track to be cut in half.

It was ranked the 11th biggest economy in the world before this invasion — and soon, it will not even rank among the top 20.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 26, 2022

On Thursday, Bloomberg News reported the ruble has surpassed Brazil's real to become "the world's best performing currency this year."

Russian Ruble is World's Best Currency This Yearhttps://t.co/kmkZzZBfnf
— First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) May 12, 2022

From Bloomberg, "Ruble Surpasses Brazil's Real as Year's Best-Performing Currency":

Capital controls imposed by Russia have turned the ruble into the world's best performing currency this year, though not many people can pocket a profit on the rally.

The ruble resumed its advance against the dollar on Wednesday as the Moscow Exchange reopened after two days of public holiday. It's now up more than 11% against the US dollar since the start of the year, surpassing the real's 9% advance to become the top gainer among 31 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The offshore rate is up even more, about 12%.

The ruble's gains result from a series of measures taken by the government to defend the battered currency in the aftermath of Western sanctions. On top of imposing capital controls, Russia has forced exporters to sell foreign-exchange and is demanding its natural gas be paid for in rubles. Strategists say the rally isn't credible as many currency-trading shops have stopped dealing in the ruble on the grounds that its value seen on monitors is not the price it can be traded at in the real world.

Talk about cope. The Russian people are profiting off the rally and their economy is surviving through unprecedented economic warfare from the West.

Russia became the most sanctioned country in the world just 10 days into their special operation and additional sanctions have been piling up ever since.

The fact their currency not only survived but thrived in the face of such opposition is a miracle.

Still, the irony of the ruble performing so well while at war is remarkable, especially as other countries that imposed capital controls in the recent past have not achieved the same results. Turkey and Argentina tried similar measures when they faced a horde of sellers in the past few years with disastrous consequences for the lira and the peso, which reached fresh all-time lows and never recovered.

Russia actually backed off their plan to add gold-backing to the ruble because their currency was so hot.

Meanwhile, the US is suffering under record inflation.

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