by Chris Black
Russian central bank announced that it will put the ruble on a gold standard. The bank pegged 1 gram of gold to 5,000 rubles. Now that means, one troy ounce of gold or 32 grams of Gold would now cost 160000 rubles in Russia. At the current exchange rate, 32 grams of gold would cost roughly $1,600 in Russia.
In the US, the same quantity of gold would cost you $1,928. That means Russia has effectively ratcheted up its currency’s value against the dollar by pegging it to gold. If, 1 gram of gold is bound to 5000 rubles, then according to Western standards, the ruble must be valued at 70-75 units against 1 dollar.
It’s April Fool’s— but the Russians ain’t playing.
Putin ordered EU countries to open ruble accounts at Gazprombank, or else the gas goes bye-bye.
Gazprombank takes their €, sells them for rubles, then pays for the gas in rubles on their behalf.
A ruble backed by gas and gold
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) April 1, 2022