Chart Of The Day: Russian Ruble Set To Surge In Tandem With Rising Oil Prices

 | Sep 17, 2019 14:25

As a petrocurrency, or the currency of an oil-exporting country, the Russian ruble is inextricably linked to the price of oil. And, with the weekend's shock attack on Saudi Arabian oil fields likely to result in the Middle Eastern country's production being halved for weeks or months to come, the ruble is set to surge along with with the price of black gold.

The energy sector’s impact on the Russian economy is huge, making up 59% of the country's GDP. The higher trajectory for oil prices could help support a stagnant Russian economy: increased oil prices give the government more leeway to raise public consumption, a much-needed prop to gross domestic product given a sharp drop off in private investment in recent years. It would also pad the central bank's foreign reserves and give comfort to foreign investors in the government bond market.

The World Bank cut its forecast for Russia’s GDP growth this year to 1.4% from the previous 1.5% in early April. Now, new expectations that the economy may expand along with the energy sector are likely to give an additional boost to the ruble.