After a historic plunge, the ruble appeared to be stabilizing Wednesday, the euro around 80 rubles against 100 the previous day while the dollar was trading around 60 rubles.
After the intervention of the Central Bank, the Russian government announced the sale of foreign currency to support the currency, which has lost more than half its value since the beginning of the year, a result of Western sanctions, the falling oil prices and a crisis of confidence.
At an emergency meeting, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev assured that Russia had the means to stem this crisis: "There is an emotional reaction of the markets. It is in our interest to restore order. Nobody, neither citizens nor the banks nor the industry take advantage of the instability. ''
Consequence of the weakening of the ruble, the consumer price rise, the central bank allowing for inflation to 10% by the end of the year. Result, Russians flock to stores to anticipate soaring even higher price: "We recently bought a washing machine. There are two weeks they cost 30,000 rubles. Now it costs 38,000 rubles, '' says a consumer. "If you need to buy something, do it now, it's the best time, '' adds another.
Ikea stores in particular have been taken over after the Swedish giant announced its customers a next price increase. Apple of his hand, which had already increased by more than 20% the price of its iPad and iPhone, comes this time to suspend the sale of its products online, due to the extreme fluctuaction ruble
