On the one hand, the US dollar has been gaining strength over the last several months, while Russia’s ruble has been sliding in recent weeks.
But on the other hand, there are plenty of emerging market currencies to keep an eye on.
And that includes Russia’s rurit currency, which is gaining value, thanks to an increase in the value of its ruble exchange rate, according to a report by the London-based International Monetary Fund.
The IMF noted that Russia’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $15 billion in the first nine months of this year, the largest annual increase since 2014.
As a result, the country’s total reserves for the year have grown by $50 billion, up from $47 billion in 2017, the report said.
Russia’s central bank, the Central Bank of Russia, has also said that the country has seen a significant increase in its cash holdings, up $30 billion in just nine months.
While the country may have a larger balance sheet than the US, that doesn’t mean the rubles are cheap.
According to a Bloomberg report, the average selling price of the Russian ruble in January 2018 was about $1,037, compared to about $2,200 in January 2017.
“As the rublons price continues to rise, so will the demand for rubles in the world,” said the IMF’s Catherine O’Neil.
Meanwhile, the IMF said in its report that the Russian central bank’s central currency holdings have grown at a “record pace,” with a total of $1.8 trillion at the end of last year.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has been touting the value and usefulness of the rubler in his country, saying that it is “very important to the Russian economy, and to the national interest.”
The central bank has also been encouraging investors to hold the Russian rouble as a hedge against the currency’s falling value.
But analysts say that this strategy is unlikely to last, given the rise in the price of oil, which has pushed up the rouble’s value.