[Washington Examiner] The value of Russia’s ruble has collapsed to less than 1 cent after the United States and other Western countries applied biting sanctions against the Russian economy.The ruble was down nearly 10% against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday at 115.68 to the dollar. On Monday, after a weekend filled with painful new sanctions, the Russian currency saw an even more precipitous decline of about 30%. The ruble was at about 84 per dollar late Friday before the harshest financial penalties kicked in.
The ruble is now worth even less than an Afghani, which is the currency of Afghanistan, a failed state that has been overrun and is controlled by Taliban militants.
The currency’s free fall was blunted a bit by the Russian central bank’s decision to hike interest rates aggressively, increasing them from 8.5% to 20% in order to bolster the ruble and prevent a run on the banks. Still, people across Russia have been seen lining up at ATMs to withdraw foreign currencies.