By James Slavyanski
MOSCOW, Russia
Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev said Wednesday that harsh foreign exchange restrictions would not be imposed to control the ruble's continuing slide.
"Russia will rely on market instruments to stabilize the foreign currency market," Medvedev said, speaking at a meeting of Russian exporters. "We will try to bring stability to the foreign currency market as quickly as possible."
"We are planning to take a number of binding decisions, including increased foreign exchange bank refinancing, and ensuring the balance of supply and demand for foreign currency by increasing the provision of foreign currency liquidity if necessary," he said.
He said, as well, that the central bank and the government had worked out a "package of measures to stabilize the situation," but he did not go into more detail.
Medvedev also asked exporters to convert more of their revenue into rubles, and said that Russian state-controlled companies may be asked to establish foreign exchange policies.
Tuesday was the worst day for the ruble since 1998, when the Russian government defaulted on its debts. The ruble fell against the dollar and euro to historic lows of 80 and 100, respectively, having lost about 50 percent of its value since October. External sanctions and the rapidly falling price of oil are driving the ruble's loss in value.
The weak ruble has also begun to affect consumers: Apple has halted sales of its products on its Russian website, the company said Wednesday in a statement.
Russians who try to buy an Apple product on the website receive this message: “We’ll be back. We’re busy updating the Apple Store for you and will be back soon.”
The volatility of the ruble had made the pricing of Apple products in the country impossible, the statement said. Prices for some of Apple's most popular products rose as much as 25 percent in November.
And Russian consumers may no longer be able to buy some foreign cars. Deliveries of some imported automobiles have been suspended, the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti reported.
BMW has suspended its deliveries to Russian dealers while awaiting payment, the report said. Three other auto-dealers say that Jaguar Landrover will suspend its deliveries beginning Friday, while the car manufacturer reworks its pricing strategy.
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