Putin’s Aide Blames Central Bank for Weaker Ruble, Inflation

  • Oreshkin says soft monetary policy is source of ruble pressure
  • Bank of Russia recently halted currency buying and hiked rates
Maxim OreshkinPhotographer: Olga Maltseva/Getty Images
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Kremlin economic aide Maxim Oreshkin blamed the central bank for contributing to declines in the ruble, an unusual rebuke made public just moments before the Russian currency broke through 100 to the dollar for the first time since March last year.

Writing in a rare columnBloomberg Terminal published by state news agency Itar-Tass on Monday, President Vladimir Putin’s chief economic adviser said “the source of the weakening of the ruble and the acceleration of inflation is soft monetary policy.”