The economist explained the essence of the "floating currency corridor" proposal

VTB's Dmitry Pyanov's proposal for a "floating currency corridor" is not the same as the current floating ruble exchange rate. This opinion was expressed by Andrei Loboda, an economist, member of the Expert Council of the Association of Forex Dealers on the development of the over-the-counter financial market, and a top manager in the field of financial communications, in an interview with Izvestia on December 2.

"Now the exchange rate is being formed by the market without restrictions. And the new idea suggests returning the borders: the Central Bank will set the upper and lower limits of the ruble's value and conduct currency interventions if the exchange rate approaches these limits in order to prevent them from breaking through," he said.

According to the expert, the essence of the proposal is to respond to the "insane swings" of the exchange rate, which business perceives as "unreal" in the new realities. This situation is aggravated by sanctions, over-the-counter trading and the transfer of settlements to national currencies, which reduces market liquidity. A stable corridor would be beneficial primarily to importers and high-tech manufacturers for the domestic market, increasing price predictability. However, Loboda notes that such a step can be seen as a move towards a non-market model, where government institutions take on problem solving instead of market balance.

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"Alternative measures to reduce volatility include the mandatory sale of foreign exchange earnings by exporters, the introduction of limits on speculation and the development of an over—the-counter market in rubles and yuan. At the same time, the proposal itself may be more of a probe of public opinion, since it is impossible to calculate the exact consequences in the current instability," the expert believes.

The current indicators of the ruble exchange rate are indeed often distorted by external sources of quotations, where at the beginning of the year the dollar reached almost 110 rubles with the official exchange rate of the Central Bank at 101.68 rubles.

For the domestic market, exchange rate formation remains fairly transparent due to the developed over-the-counter Forex market. The participants actively use the dynamic charts of the largest forex dealers as a guide, whose data influence the daily determination of official exchange rates. Despite the summer collapse forecasts, the ruble remains stable, and according to Alfa-Forex estimates, the dollar's movement potential is in the range of 73-82 rubles by the end of December. The authorities will have to weigh all the advantages and risks of the proposed model, taking into account current priorities for managing liquidity and inflation.

Earlier that day, Spartak Sobolev, head of Alfa-Forex's Investment Strategy Research department, told Izvestia about the ruble's exchange rate movements during the week of December 1. According to him, since the beginning of 2025, the ruble has been strengthening against the dollar by about 24%, against the euro by about 14%, and against the yuan by almost 21%. On the December horizon, we can observe the stable position of the ruble with the possibility of strengthening within the range of 73-82 rubles per dollar, 85-94 rubles per euro and 10.20–11.50 per yuan.

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