Russia’s central bank ties euro rate to dollar and European Central Bank benchmarks in bid to curb wild swings

Russia’s central bank introduced a new method for calculating the official euro-to-ruble exchange rate, the regulator announced on its website.

Under the new procedure, the official euro rate will be calculated from the U.S. dollar-to-ruble exchange rate and the European Central Bank’s euro-to-dollar rate as of 3:30 p.m. Moscow time on that business day.

Russia’s central bank attributed the change to “low trading volumes in the ruble/euro currency pair on the domestic foreign exchange market.”

Yegor Susin, head of the strategy development center at Gazprombank, told the Russian business news outlet RBC that the shift was necessary to eliminate the impact of domestic factors — such as low liquidity — on the official euro rate.

“In recent days especially, we saw the official euro rate swing by plus three rubles, then minus three rubles. The rate fluctuated heavily because there are very few interbank transactions on which the rate can be based. Even a single small transaction could distort it significantly. Under the new calculation method, the central bank’s official euro rate will depend solely on the global euro-dollar rate — meaning that if the euro falls, that will naturally be reflected here as well,” he said.

In June 2024, Russia’s central bank switched to a new method for calculating the official dollar and euro exchange rates against the ruble. This came after the United States imposed sanctions on the Moscow Exchange, the National Clearing Center, and the National Settlement Depository. After that, the central bank began setting the dollar and euro rates against the ruble based on banks’ reported data on over-the-counter foreign exchange market transactions as of 3:30 p.m. Moscow time on the current business day.