Rouble plummets to record low versus dollar

The Russian rouble dropped to a fresh record low against the dollar on Thursday in the wake of the ongoing oil price slump.

Brent front month futures contract is trading at its lowest levels since November 2003 around $28 per barrel, and well shy of $115 noted over the summer of 2014 before the ongoing price slide took hold. Overnight, a dollar was fetching RUR 82.4, before another 3% decline in the Russian currency saw the exchange rate revised to RUR 85.0.

However, a spokesperson for the Russian government said the situation was not “critical.”

“The rate is changing, the rate is volatile, but it is far from a collapse," he added.

Earlier, frosty relations between Russia and the West deteriorated further, after a UK inquiry found that the fatal poisoning of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 was “probably approved” by President Vladimir Putin.

However, Moscow rebuffed the accusation describing the UK inquiry as "biased and politically motivated."

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund predicted that Russia's economy would contract by 1% in 2016, following a 3.7% decline in 2015. The IMF expects a return to growth in 2017.