The official dollar rate for Friday has increased by 1.24 rubles up to 47.66 rubles, the rate of euro has increased by 1.72 rubles up to 59.62 rubles – that is a historic record. The dollar-euro basket (0.55 dollars and 0.45 euros) amounted to 53.04 rubles.
On Thursday, the ruble fell to its minimum for the last three weeks as a reaction to OPEC meeting. The reason for the weakening of the ruble is decreasing oil prices. Brent cost fell below $76 per barrel.
Representatives of several OPEC countries – Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar – said on Wednesday that they would not propose decreasing the volumes of oil production at the meeting. As Reuters reports, according to some analysts, if the OPEC countries did not agree on the significant reduction of oil production, oil price could fall to $60 per barrel.
According to expert consulting firm IHS Brushan Bahri, it is unlikely that OPEC will agree to reduce oil production significantly, although there is some possibility of surprise too.