Experts spoke about the main reasons for the strengthening of the ruble against the dollar.

The ruble continues to strengthen, reaching its lowest values against the dollar since June 2024. This trend is due to a number of factors, including a seasonal decrease in demand for the currency. This opinion was shared by Evgeny Shatov, a partner at Capital Lab, and Natalia Pyrieva, a leading analyst at Cifra Broker, in an interview with Izvestia on March 17.

According to experts, the strengthening of the ruble is explained by the excessive supply of foreign currency from exporters.

"The market expects the Central Bank to keep the key rate at 21%, which supports the attractiveness of ruble savings and reduces demand for foreign currency. By the end of March, the dollar may trade in the range of 82-89 rubles," explained Shatov.

Additional support for the ruble is provided by seasonally low demand for foreign currency in the first quarter of the year and sales of yuan within the framework of the budget rule. Next week, the ruble will also receive a boost from the tax period, when exporters will begin actively selling foreign exchange earnings.

In addition, the geopolitical detente and the improvement of the balance of payments indicators also contribute to the strengthening of the national currency.

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"The Bank of Russia has revised estimates for 2024, raising the current account balance to $63.9 billion due to increased exports. In January-February 2025, the situation also looks optimistic," Pyrieva said.

Also, the upcoming telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States creates a positive news background, which attracts investors to Russian assets.

"Foreign investors are selling foreign currency to buy Russian assets, which further strengthens the ruble," Pyrieva stressed.

However, experts believe that the ruble is close to the peak of its strengthening.

"Spring export inflows will be lower than winter ones, and import demand will increase, so the ruble will gradually begin to return to the level of 90 rubles per dollar," Pyrieva summed up.

Ivan Efanov, an analyst at Cifra Broker, told Izvestia on February 25 that, in addition to geopolitics, the strengthening of the ruble was influenced by an increase in net sales from exporters and a high key interest rate. In turn, Mikhail Zeltser, an expert on the stock market at BCS World Investments, clarified that at the beginning of 2025 there were too many speculative bets against the ruble on the market, which eventually burned down, which increased the collapse in foreign exchange rates.