The dollar broke the 80 ruble mark. The last time this happened was on Black Tuesday in December 2014. Since the moment the ruble was released into free float, it has fallen in price by 66 percent. The national currency continues to react sensitively to movements in oil prices.

January 20 began with a sharp collapse of the ruble. In the first minutes of trading, the dollar on the Moscow Exchange soared from 78.62 to 79.41 rubles. At 12:00 Moscow time, the US currency exchange rate was 79.93 rubles (plus 1.30 rubles compared to the close of the session on January 19), and then exceeded 80 rubles. By 14:00 Moscow time, the dollar had risen in price to 80.13 rubles. The last time it reached this level was on December 16, 2014, when the Central Bank sharply raised the key rate from 10.5 to 17 percent.

That day was called Black Tuesday by analogy with Black Monday on August 17, 1998, when Russia declared a default. Now Black Wednesday has arrived - and the dollar is again more expensive than 80 rubles.

The ruble continues to demonstrate strong dependence on oil prices. The cost of a barrel of Brent during trading on the London ICE exchange fell from 28.64 to 27.82 dollars (information also at 12:00 Moscow time). On January 19, against the background of a positive forecast from the International Energy Agency (it predicted an increase in demand for hydrocarbons in 2016), the standard grade briefly rose in price to $30. Against this background, the national currency strengthened. The dollar fell to 78 rubles, the euro - less than 85. But oil is falling in price again, dragging the ruble with it.

“The key factor influencing the ruble exchange rate is oil. The decline in quotations of “black gold” is the main negative driver for the national currency,” Alexey Egorov, leading analyst at Promsvyazbank, noted in an interview with Lenta.ru. According to him, at the current oil price (around $28 per barrel), the dollar exchange rate of 80 rubles looks “very optimistic.” “In the near future, without a change in the situation on commodity markets, the dollar may well reach the level of 82-84 rudders,” he predicts.

Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at the Finam investment holding, also sees the reason for the weakening of the ruble in the fall of the energy market. Supply exceeds demand by 1.5 million barrels per day, sanctions have been lifted from Iran, the global economy is not growing as fast as expected - all this has a negative impact on the cost of hydrocarbons. “Investors are betting against the ruble because they fear that the supply of currency will decrease due to a fall in foreign exchange earnings of exporters,” explains the analyst. Investors also expect that the state will not interfere with the weakening of the ruble, since the depreciation compensates for the reduction in the cost of energy resources and helps replenish the budget.

According to Bogdan Zvarich, the ruble feels confident: oil has lost 25 percent in value since December 30, and the dollar has risen in price against the ruble by nine percent. He predicts that in the second half of 2016, hydrocarbon prices will begin to recover, and quotes will rise to $50-55 per barrel of Brent.

If the ruble exchange rate continues to fall, the Central Bank will enter the market with interventions. That is, it will sell off the state’s gold and foreign exchange reserves in order to raise the ruble. This was reported by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. In their opinion, the Central Bank will begin selling dollars at an exchange rate of 90 rubles. Some experts believe that interventions will begin at 80 rubles per dollar. This happened on January 20, but the regulator has not yet announced its further plans.

The Bank of Russia abandoned regular foreign exchange interventions on November 10, 2014. Then they stopped burning reserves and made the ruble free. At the end of 2015, the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, confirmed her commitment to the concept of a free ruble. “The floating exchange rate regime is best suited in the current situation for the Russian economy,” she said. We can say that the regulator made a strategic decision to maintain gold and foreign exchange reserves for emergencies. For example, to patch holes in the budget (its deficit is covered from the Reserve Fund). Supporting the ruble exchange rate is no longer part of the Central Bank's tasks; its key goal is to slow inflation to four percent by 2017. It is not for nothing that Nabiullina urged Russians to follow price dynamics rather than movements in the foreign exchange market.

But the government does not intend to end the financial year in the black. The budget includes the cost of Urals oil at $50. Based on this, it is expected that treasury revenues will amount to 13.73 trillion rubles, expenses - 16.09 trillion. The planned shortage of funds is 2.36 trillion rubles or three percent of GDP. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously called for keeping the deficit at this level. According to Bank of America, given the current situation in the energy market, this is only possible at an exchange rate of 140 rubles per dollar.

However, the Ministry of Finance has a plan to balance the budget. Anton Siluanov’s department received control over the Federal Alcohol Regulation and the Federal Customs Service. The Ministry of Finance must improve their efficiency and ensure that they transfer more money to the treasury. In addition, the Ministry of Finance intends to carry out large-scale privatization. Within two years it is planned to sell state property worth a trillion rubles. Finally, expenses are sequestered by 10 percent. If the Ministry of Finance's savings program does not work or is only partially implemented, further weakening of the ruble will remain one of the ways to increase revenues. To do this, it is enough not to carry out currency interventions. You just need to watch.

Wednesday, September 16, 1992, 16.00
At noon on “Black Wednesday” the clouds thickened to the limit. In the end, the British laid down their arms and left the EMU. Winners like George Soros smiled;
John Major and Norman Lamont admitted defeat with chagrin.
The heads of the Bank of England convened representatives of other central banks of European countries to a conference to discuss the changes caused by the exit of the pound from the EMU.
The pound fell by 2.7% against the mark, and in the evening its money changer traded in New York for 2.703 marks - well below the limit; level within the EMU.
Wednesday, 17.00
Major convenes a cabinet meeting and seeks approval for Britain's exit from the EMU. Italy is making it clear that it will follow suit. Now the pound and lira are traded without restrictions, and central banks no longer need to protect their exchange rate by buying up their currencies on the market. Crews of television and photojournalists crowded around the entrance to the British Treasury, awaiting the next public announcement.
Wednesday, 19.00
Finally, the announcement is made. Norman Lamont appeared before the journalists' lenses, admitting defeat. The haggard, tired face of the Lord Chancellor betrays alarm. The Economist will even call him “unhappy.”
Putting his hands behind his back, like a prisoner in shackles, Lamont squeezed out a smile, which, however, flashed only for a split second. With his right hand he brushed a lock of hair from his forehead. And only then he spoke: “Today was an extremely difficult and hectic day. Powerful financial currents continued to erode the EMU mechanism... However, the Government concluded that maintaining our membership of the European Monetary System would serve Britain's best interests."
Wednesday, 19.30
Britain is returning the pound sterling to free floating. On Black Wednesday, its rate reached 2.71 marks, falling by only 3 percent (however, by the end of September, the pound collapsed to 2.5 German marks).
Thursday, September 17, 1992
Interest rates in England have been returned to 10%.
Following the example of the British, Italy withdrew its currency from the EMU. The pound immediately fell to 2.7 marks and settled at 2.65 German marks - 5% below the previous minimum level. On Black Wednesday, the British pound sterling was 16% more expensive!
Britain is not alone. Spain is also forced to devalue the peseta by 28%, Italy the lira by 22%.
Following the announcement of the pound's exit from the EMU, the pound is quoted below 2.7 marks in New York trading - more than seven pfennigs cheaper than the EMU floor of 2.778 marks.
(One of the sad consequences of the pound crisis only became apparent the following summer, when the permissible EMU fluctuations were expanded to 15%, which made the system itself meaningless. In September 1994, the EMU continued to operate as part of Germany, France and six other member countries.)
George Soros seemed like a genius.
Many hit the jackpot on the fall of the pound, but their profits remained in the shadows. Paul Tudor Jones or Bruce Kovner from the Caxton Corporation were among the winners of the main prize: the first earned 250, the second approximately 300 million dollars. Leading American banks that actively handle foreign currencies, especially City Corp., J.P. Morgan and Chemical Bank were also pleased. In total, during the third quarter, banks earned an additional $800 million from foreign currency trading.
Soros's grandiose bet became public when the London Daily Mail, citing an unpublished issue of Forbes magazine, ran a defiantly bold headline in huge black letters on October 24: I made a billion from the collapse of the pound.
Accompanying the article was a photograph of a smiling Soros with a glass of wine in his hand. The gist of the article was that "an international financier was reported last night to have made nearly a billion dollars from the September currency crisis."
Anatole Kalecki, economics editor of The Times of London, was returning home from a walk with his daughter that Saturday morning. They went into a sweet shop for a moment to buy some chocolate when a Daily Mail headline caught his eye. Shocked by the news, Kalecki bought a newspaper and immediately read the article. An hour later, George Soros called him at home.
- What's happening? - asked the Times journalist in mental turmoil.
“I’m in London now,” Soros boomed. - I don’t know if you’ve already read the Mail.
Kalecki, beginning to understand what was going on, answered in the affirmative.
- My house is besieged by journalists and photographers. I want to go away and play tennis. I just don't know what to do. Advise me what to do!
But before giving advice, Kalecki wanted to find out only one thing: did the newspaper print the truth? Soros was quick to answer: “In general, yes.”
Kalecki advised Soros not to talk to any journalists near the house. “If you want to tell the public what you did and didn’t do, you’d better write an article yourself, or I’ll come and help you.”
- Okay, I'll think about it.
Half an hour later, Soros called Kalecki back and said it would be great if a journalist from the Times came to his house that afternoon. Kalecki arrived and Soros gave his first interview about the details of his planned strike against the pound. According to Kalecki, the October 26 interview with The Times was a turning point in the creation of Soros's image as a public figure. “From that day on he became a celebrity in England. Before that, no one there had ever heard of George Soros.”
Kalecki began the article by introducing Soros to readers; “George Soros is a highbrow intellectual who spends most of his time in Eastern Europe, involved in politics and philanthropy in the fields of education and science. He is also the world's largest currency speculator. Two weeks before Black Wednesday, Mr. Soros played a game of poker with the British cabinet at previously unheard-of high stakes.”
Soros, Kalecki further wrote, admits that he made a billion dollars from the pound crisis, “although the embarrassed trembling in his voice could not completely hide the feeling of somewhat malicious satisfaction.”
Explaining his actions on the eve of Black Wednesday, Soros said: “We sold the pound in anticipation of a depreciation and made a lot of money because we had enormous funds. We became the largest player in the foreign exchange market on the eve of the collapse of the EMU. The total volume of our operations by “black Wednesday” reached approximately ten billion dollars. We intended to sell even more pounds. But when Norman Lamont, just before the devaluation, said that the government would borrow about $15 billion to maintain the exchange rate of the pound, we were confused: we expected to sell pounds ourselves for about the same amount. But events got ahead of us, and we were unable to reach the planned level. Therefore, a billion - although it is dollars, not pounds - generally correctly reflects the assessment of our profit.”
Soros contacted his office and found that current profits from trading the pound were approaching $950 million, but continued to increase as he transferred the funds to other currencies. His personal share of these 950 million was one third. Buying futures in anticipation of rising interest rates in England, France and Germany, as well as selling the Italian lira, boosted his profits to about $2 billion.
Kalecki asked why Soros would risk betting his entire fortune on the failure of a policy to which the British government had sworn allegiance. Soros said he was confident in the German Bundsbank's desire to devalue the pound and lira, but not the French franc. “I would easily make bigger bets with the Bundesbank. As a result, the victory went to the Bundesbank with a score of 3:0 and currency speculators 2:1. I was just more successful than others in playing along with the Bundesbank.”
When asked whether Prime Minister Major should have raised interest rates before Black Wednesday, Soros replied: “What nonsense! If interest rates were to rise, this would only hasten the outcome, as short selling would increase even more. We just didn't expect the devaluation to happen before the end of the week. But when interest rates rose on Black Wednesday, we realized that our time had come. We had to speed up sales and increase their volume to the maximum. There was no time left."
For a time, Soros transformed himself from a speculator into a financial analyst, saying that speculation was extremely painful, especially for foreign exchange markets. “However, all remedies against it, such as fixed rates, are usually even worse. Regional systems are also disastrous; they collapse very quickly. In reality, any exchange rate system is bad, and the longer it exists, the more obvious its flaws. The only way to avoid them is to simply abandon all exchange rates and create a single currency in Europe, like in the United States. This will put speculators like me out of the game, but I personally will gladly make such a sacrifice.”
Soros was free to make such statements, having received two billion from the crisis of the pound and other currencies!
Recalling his conversation with Soros on that October Saturday, Kalecki told me that he was simply struck by Soros' detached appearance. “He always seemed completely dispassionate and impeccably logical in his approach to money. Then I didn’t even know if money had any meaning for him in an emotional sense... It seemed that its main advantage was that with its help he could keep score in the game... He was clearly proud of his victory. That's why he agreed to this interview... He was flattered by his own insight, his willingness to challenge the authorities. Bank of England - and win." He also liked the fact that the publicity of the victory would shed a bright light on his charity in Eastern Europe.
To Soros's delight, the play against the pound also confirmed his theory of finance. A man who admired chaos, the EMU crisis was considered one of the most chaotic events of the 90s.
Armed with the theory of the omnipotence of sensations provoking reflexive behavior in the markets, Soros was able to identify the main mistake at the very beginning of the EMU crisis: erroneous expectations of support for the pound from the Bundesbank under any circumstances. When the Bundesbank made it clear that it would not meet the Bank of England halfway and would not lower interest rates, Soros made his bet. Soros's theory led the investor to believe that the actions of his fellow speculators were also influenced by the trend. They enhance reflexive behavior in markets. Soros noted: “In a system of freely floating exchange rates, speculation plays an increasingly important role, and gradually speculation itself increasingly follows the prevailing trend, causing increasing fluctuations in exchange rates until the system collapses completely.”
This was a turning point in the career of George Soros. Whereas previously the press showed only passing interest in him, and most people outside Wall Street and the City had never heard of him, now everything has changed.
Now they all wanted to know who this man was who was responsible for the fall of the English pound. When reports of his triumph became known to everyone, George Soros began to be called “the man who crushed the Bank of England.” Soros, of course, did not crush the Bank of England, but he drank plenty of blood from his fragile body. In the minds of most British people, Soros has become an epic hero. Kalecki recalled: “Oddly enough, there was no hostility towards the foreigner. On the contrary, the British, in an inimitably English manner, wished him good luck, saying that if he earned a billion from the stupidity of our government, then he’s probably just great.”
George Magnus, leading foreign equity expert at S.J. Bank. Warburg in London, said: “the press inspired: here is a shrewd financier, he invested money where he promised... And the government and the Bank of England were castigated for incompetence and a complete lack of understanding of the essence of what was happening... But Soros also appeared as a living example of how not too scrupulous speculators rob governments. So publicity turned out to be a double-edged sword for him.”
Soros was pleased with his newfound fame. He hoped to use it as a kind of torch that could shed light on those aspects of his activity where he simply craved such fame: philosophical ideas and charity. “I am very pleased with my fame: it gives me a platform from which I can say whatever I want. As a stockbroker, I should avoid this notoriety. It can hurt. But I'm no longer a stockbroker. And there is simply no better way to make my voice heard on political issues.”
The shame of defeat hung over Prime Minister John Major and Lord Chancellor Norman Lamont. Lamont insisted in vain that it was not fluctuations in the exchange rate of the pound that led to the severe devaluation. The Conservative Party came to Major's defense, accusing the Bundesbank of undisguised “contempt” for the pound.
Lamont did not feel the need to justify his decision to return the pound to a freely floating exchange rate. “I acted yesterday as a reasonable navigator would act before a storm.”
After cashing in on the chaos in Western Europe, Soros reflected deeply on how damaging the storm had been.
“The final result was the destruction of the currency system, and the size of the negative impact on the economy is not yet known, but could be extremely large. I believe that Europe is entering a phase of severe crisis. Business has almost stopped in Germany, things are going very badly in France... Instability is always dangerous. It may be beneficial for some people like me, instability specialists, but it is really very dangerous for the economy.”
In the end, however, the September 1992 crisis turned out to be a boon for Britain and other Western European countries with weak currencies. Not only has export competitiveness increased, but discount rates have fallen sharply. And after a few years, their export industries turned into prosperous ones.
As for John Major and Norman Lamont, only the first of them survived the storm, although his popularity fell catastrophically, and by the spring of 1994 the government was experiencing serious difficulties.
Many English newspapers mourned the losses of the British and the profits of Soros. They were looking for scapegoats, and George Soros came in handy. One television journalist said: “The government's commitment to the EMU was considered as strong as the Bank of England itself. But everything turned out wrong. We suffered colossal losses as the bank depleted foreign exchange reserves to maintain the value of the pound sterling. The government is tight-lipped about the size of our losses, but they could amount to several billion pounds. Let’s look at the question differently: this fall we spent more money defending the exchange rate of the pound than on the Gulf War.”
Former French Prime Minister Roland Dumas said it was "Anglo-Saxon speculators" - a reference to currency traders like George Soros - who killed European hopes. “Look who benefits from such a crime!” - he exclaimed.
The British press, wanting to shame Soros for his successes, clearly miscalculated. If September 16 was called “Black Wednesday” in England, Soros renamed it “White Wednesday”. And he brushed aside all attacks. “I am sure this will lead to negative consequences, but my opinion has not changed. And it couldn't change. If I refrained from acting on moral grounds, I would cease to be a speculator. I don’t have even a shadow of remorse for what I earned from the devaluation. Since it has already happened, the devaluation of the pound may turn out to be a good thing. But the point is this: I traded the pound not to help England, or, on the contrary, to harm her. I traded the pound to make a profit."
The English press did not calm down. Aren't Soros's profits a direct loss for the UK? Didn’t Soros deprive every taxpayer of 25 pounds, and every resident of England, including even children, of twelve and a half pounds sterling?!
He agreed that England had suffered losses. “However, there is nothing to discuss here, because I knew who I was dealing with. In any transaction, someone wins and someone loses. But, as a rule, you do not know who your counterparty is, and you do not know whether he won or lost. In this case, it is clear to everyone that my counterparty was the Bank of England. And I assure you that I do not feel the slightest sense of guilt, because if I had not sold the pound, someone else would have done it anyway.”
Moreover, he, Soros, gives away a considerable amount of money to atone for his sins, and in particular because no one in the West wants to help the East. Soros reminded everyone that he, too, could have lost his money, “although, of course, not nearly as much as he earned, and the bet, of course, was [Soros smiles and spreads his hands], so to speak, a win-win due to the insignificance of the possible losses. And the profit turned out to be huge.”
To his credit, George Soros was not alone in betting on the pound's exchange rate falling. One currency trader at a large English investment bank noted that “Soros has invested a significant amount, but for comparison, the daily turnover in the foreign exchange markets reaches a trillion dollars. This is an unimaginable amount. Against this background, Soros's 10 billion is relatively small. Yes, in a coordinated game against one currency they can have a big impact. But it was not Soros who crushed the Bank of England. This was done by market speculation against the pound. George Soros was simply a prominent participant.”
Thanks to the victory over the pound, 1992 turned out to be extremely successful for George Soros and the Quantum Foundation.
To top it all off, Soros was recognized as the highest paid person on Wall Street. He earned $650 million, more than five times more than in 1991. Convicted stock trader Michael Milken could no longer claim primacy with his $550 million earned in 1987.
According to Financial World, which compiled a list of Wall Street's rich, George Soros received about $400 million from the fund's distributed profits; the fee for managing the fund's assets provided the remaining 250 million. In fifth place was the thirty-nine-year-old “heir” of Soros, Stanley Druckenmiller, who earned 110 million in 1992.
At the end of the year, Quantum became the largest offshore fund, achieving an increase in the value of assets by 68.6%, which brought their amount to $3.7 billion. Someone who invested $10,000 in Quantum shares when it was founded in 1969, and then reinvested all the dividends, would have received $12,982,827.62 by the end of 1992.
Note that four of the six funds that achieved the greatest success belonged to Soros: Quantum Emerging grew by 57% and took third place; fourth was Quasar International with an increase of 56%; sixth was the “Quota” fund, which grew by 37%. Through four offshore funds, Soros managed more than $6 billion in assets. How did he do it?
In addition to his success during the September EMU crisis, he made a lot of money in foreign stocks, especially in the Japanese market at the beginning of the year. Transactions with shares of 500 leading US companies also brought solid profits.
Compiling the twentieth annual report of the Quantum Foundation, Soros noted: “The exceptional successes of 1992 can be attributed mainly to such extraordinary events as the collapse of the European Monetary System. Sales of the pound on the eve of England's exit from the EMU attracted exceptional public attention. I must note, however, that profits from the pound sterling operation amounted to only 40% of gross profit for this year, and even without taking them into account, this year's results would significantly exceed our average annual turnover... I would like to warn Quantum shareholders: my reputation , like the fund as a whole, has turned out to be enormously inflated in recent months. Almost daily, rumors arise about the fund's operations in various markets, which is often reflected in changing trends in these markets. Often these rumors have no basis in fact and shareholders should treat them as such. Whenever we engage in transactions that require publicity, we provide the necessary documents and make official statements.”
The year 1992 will be remembered by Soros and not only for the indescribable amount of money earned under his leadership. Now he is recognized as a miracle worker of sorts. One night, at an end-of-year intellectual dinner in Prague, talk turned to Soros's newfound wealth. Sitting at a table with the people he liked most, Soros said that he would be happy if his successes helped him here in the East, even if they hurt him in the West. A newly minted celebrity, he busily signed autographs and tossed five-pound notes he had signed into the crowd. But Soros was looking for something more that always eluded him, namely respect.
Suddenly he became a public figure. His autographs were in great demand. The press sought to find out details about his work and leisure time, to describe how he lived. That was enough for them. But Soros does not. Even donating money did not bring complete satisfaction. He wanted more. And now I wanted it even more than ever.
His goal, not made public and only occasionally mentioned in private conversations, was nothing less than to control Washington, but not by winning an election or being appointed to a powerful government position. Soros would be quite happy if the president and other leading metropolitan politicians listen to his opinion.
Soros was a Democrat, and in November 1992, Bill Clinton, also a Democrat, was elected President of the United States. Soros knew that getting the attention of the new president would not be easy. Many rich people also believe in their right to be heard in Washington. Why does Soros believe that he has more rights than others? How is he so different from them? “We need to change people’s opinions about me,” Soros told aides. “I don’t want to be just another rich guy.” I have something to say and I want to be heard."

In America - "Black Friday", in Russia - "Black Wednesday". After a pause of 5 days, the Russian stock market demonstrates that it is also part of the global economy. According to the results of today's trading, "blue chips" - shares of the largest domestic companies - fell in price by an average of 5, or even 11%.

Gazprom, whose share price is usually not subject to sharp fluctuations, was hit the hardest. A little less - RAO UES, LUKoil, YUKOS - that is, mainly raw materials producers. For each specific corporation, a fall in quotes means a general decrease in capitalization, and therefore in attractiveness for investors.

“If we remember that until recently our capitalization exceeded $25 billion, and 10% of this is $2.5 billion, then this is generally quite significant money by Russian standards,” says Igor Plotnikov, head of the press service of Gazprom. , commenting on the more than 10 percent drop in his company's stock price.

However, during the day there is absolute calm on the main exchanges. Brokers, as expected, are at their computers. They don't think there was a tragedy here. Although they cannot name the exact cause of the collapse.

“To be honest, the experts themselves are still finding it difficult to say what this is connected with. Some suspect the dissemination of some kind of insider information,” says Oleg Kuznetsov, head of the MICEX information and analytical service.

According to him, the main version is that the American market is to blame. However, Russia is not so closely connected with it. Perhaps speculators are to blame for spreading negative information about blue chips in order to buy them up - after all, despite the falling price, all the shares offered today were sold. They refrain from making any forecasts on the stock exchanges - maybe tomorrow will be better, or maybe the decline will continue.

“In about an hour, trading will open in the United States, and I think there will also be complications there. In my opinion, this is caused primarily by the expectation of negative news that may happen,” believes Alexei Mamontov, president of the Moscow International Monetary Association.

One chairman of the Federal Securities Commission, Igor Kostikov, is calm and optimistic. He believes that the fall in shares is caused by the fact that Western speculators are leaving the Russian market: “The shares are being sold primarily by American funds, speculators who are forced to equalize their positions due to the fall of the American market. The Russian economy, unlike the American one, is not experiencing There are no fundamental problems. Our economic growth continues, the budget is executed with a surplus, we have significant growth in industrial production, which is significantly related to the stock market,” says Igor Kostikov.

Optimists and pessimists agree on one thing: there is nothing like August 1998 on the horizon. The Russian economy has good performance - in June alone, GDP and industrial production grew by more than 2%. And its involvement in the global economy is not great enough to look back at every change in Western indices.

If so, Russian blue chips should soar again in the coming days. And those who bought them today can make good money. True, the majority of citizens, whose incomes are unlikely to be affected by today's recession, will most likely remember this environment as something else.

Events in the Russian foreign exchange market in recent days bring to mind the story of 1992, when George Soros played against the Bank of England and made a huge amount of money.

On September 16, 1992, the Bank of England planned to intervene and stop the unwanted movement of the pound, but intervention in the market turned out to be futile, and the British authorities lost control of the situation. That day was called “Black Wednesday,” George Soros earned a billion and became famous, and the myth of the omnipotence of the state was dispelled.

Then it was a planned action for a fairly large amount of funds - more than 5 billion pounds. Soros's Quantum fund accumulated this position for a long time, then at the right moment to sell it to the market and collapse the rate.

The publication zerohedge quotes the words of one of the participants in those events from the side of the monetary authorities, who says that the Bank of England was confident that a cascade of interventions would make market participants believe that the regulator was serious about stopping the fall of its currency.

This is what usually happens, but not when the stakes are so high. As a result, Bank of England traders were extremely surprised that their orders were rapidly being swallowed up by an avalanche of sales from speculators.

If we compare “Black Wednesday” with the current situation on the Russian foreign exchange market, then there are certainly similarities. The only difference is that the collapse of the ruble in its scale far exceeds the troubles that happened to the pound.

Source: zerohedge

However, only the Bank of Russia itself is to blame for what happened; no one else needs to be blamed for anything. All experts have been wondering since January of this year why such a policy should be pursued. But nevertheless, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation continued to play a dangerous game. Then, when the situation became critical, no adequate actions were taken.

Now, even if it is possible to stabilize the ruble, the damage to the economy has been colossal and it will take a long time to recover from it. Imported goods have already begun to rise in price, but from January an even stronger increase in prices is expected. Import substitution, which is now the focus, is, of course, an important process, but it takes quite a long time. In the meantime, various sectors of the economy need to purchase imported equipment, and due to the more than two-fold weakening of the ruble, the costs of these purchases increase very significantly.

The situation with the ruble today

Now there is such chaos in the Russian foreign exchange market that serious changes in the exchange rate occur both in the main session and in the evening. Despite the real defeat that was observed on Tuesday afternoon, at the end of the day the ruble reduced losses to a minimum. Let us remind you that at the moment the losses on Tuesday reached 20%.

On Wednesday, the dollar/ruble pair is trading near 68 rubles. per dollar, the session minimum has so far been fixed at 66 rubles. for a dollar.

The single European currency is trading just below 85 rubles. Yesterday the rate reached 100 rubles.

Dear readers! Now every weekday morning we publish a digest. In it we collect the main events of the past day/night and give brief information about the coming day. We recently started working in this format and are very interested in whether you need digests and what exactly you would like to see in them. You can send us your wishes and comments via the feedback form (at the bottom of the page). And if you like the digests so much that you want to receive them by mail, leave your e-mail in the “Subscribe to newsletter” box (also at the bottom of the page).

What happened yesterday?

The main event of November 22 - alas, sad - was death of the famous opera singer Dmitry Hvorostovsky. After a long illness, he is 56 years old. But just recently, on May 27, he performed at a concert in St. Petersburg dedicated to City Day. Who would have thought that we would see him for the last time...

An action to install QR codes on historical and architectural monuments has started in St. Petersburg. After scanning them, obtain information about the object from the Open City project website.

At a meeting on Wednesday, November 22, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg heard the sensational draft budget for 2018 in the second reading.

The meeting turned out to be stormy - the party in power traditionally declares that “everything is fine,” while the opposition received approval for all the amendments it proposed, most of which were of a social nature. As a deputy from the Yabloko party put it on this occasion, “citizens will know because of whom they will live in communal apartments for decades to come...”

Military personnel of the railway troops brigade of the Western Military District in Kronstadt began restoring the Demidov mortar coastal battery.

Military railway workers are preparing the site on which a track up to 100 meters long will be built. What will happen today?

On November 23-26, a large-scale city event “Black Friday – White Thursday” will take place in St. Petersburg.