MOSCOW: Russia’s weak rouble is benefiting exporting companies, offsetting the negative impact of the central bank’s high benchmark interest rate, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Tuesday.

The rouble hit the lowest level against the US dollar and China’s yuan since March 2022 this week, following rising tensions between Russia and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and fresh round of Western sanctions against Russia’s financial sector.

“I am not saying whether the exchange rate is good or bad. I am just saying that today the exchange rate is very, very favourable for exporters,” Siluanov told a financial conference in Moscow.

Siluanov’s remarks are the first admission from a senior government’s figure that Russian authorities at least for the moment do not object the exchange rate’s weakness.

Rouble slumps to over two-year low

“The key thing is that the exchange rate is more important for exports than the interest rate,” Siluanov added.