The Russian rouble strengthened to its highest point against the U.S. dollar since the start of the year on May 26, as Brent oil topped USD50 a barrel for the first time since November.
The rouble reached RUB65.02 per dollar and RUB72.68 per euro.
Brent is now 80 percent higher than in February, when it dropped to a 12-year minimum. The recent increase will ease months of pressure on Russia’s budget and the widening deficit, since spending this year is calculated at a USD50 oil price.
The global oil demand increased amid reports of a 4.2-million-barrel weekly decline in U.S. oil reserves, the U.S. Energy Department reported.
Some Russian experts had predicted that oil prices will stabilize around the current level in 2016. Earlier, the deputy chairman of Russia’s VEB Bank Andrey Klepach said that the price of oil at the end of 2016 will be USD48 per barrel, with its average annual price in 2017 exceeding USD50.
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