Russia’s central bank said it may increase its key interest rate after the rouble fell to less than Rbs100 to the dollar on Monday, prompting policymakers to squabble over how to deal with the economic fallout from President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Nearly a year and a half after Putin ordered the invasion, Russia’s technocrats are struggling to balance the competing priorities of economic growth and stabilising the currency, which is at a 16-month low against the dollar.
The rouble’s precipitous slide prompted rare public disagreements among top Russian officials on Monday as the Kremlin sought to assuage growing anxiety about the currency while continuing to praise the debt-fuelled growth that had weakened it.