Everybody knows that people start taking good things for granted very easily. But the head of the Russian Central Bank believes that Russians get used to bad events as quickly as to good ones. Ms Nabiullina said that Russian citizens have already gotten accustomed to the ruble’s sharp fluctuations. “I think it’s quite natural. Everybody gets used to a floating exchange rate. Both enterprises and individuals have started to realize that the exchange rate can move in both directions: you can either win or lose,” Elvira Nabiullina said in an interview.
Officials say the ruble didn’t collapse, it has just been going through simple exchange rate fluctuations. Ordinary people have stopped buying up US dollars not because they ran out of their money and savings, but because everyone “has begun to realize that the exchange rate can move”.
So there is no room for negative sentiments or even for structural reforms. Financial awareness of the population increases, the exchange rate floats… the ruble feels particularly comfortable! These statements are confirmed by other words of the central bank’s chief that “people’s reaction to the second wave of the ruble’s weakening in January was very calm”. Should we admire great self-control, or, maybe it is just this kind of situation: no money – no stress?
However, while the ruble is “fluctuating”, the exchange rates of the US dollar and euro against it are strengthening steadily with no swings at all. But Russian people shouldn’t be scared of this either; they are promised to live long and happy life even if one dollar costs 100 rubles. “We may see crude oil worth $18 per barrel and USD/RUB at 100 rubles – we’ll survive it. We should move on being aware it will happen,” Head of Rusal Oleg Deripaska said. He advised his countrymen to stop “swearing to currency quotes”. And his words raise no doubts. Deripaska will definitely survive such an exchange rate with the fact that his wealth has nothing to do with rubles. So, dear alarmists, please, stop being worried, nervous and upset!
