THE QUESTION.
One of the quickest reactions to the Russian army's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 was the collapse of the ruble against the dollar.
In less than three weeks, the Russian currency has lost almost half of its value against the dollar on the foreign exchange market.
The latter reacted above all to the decision of the United States and the countries of the European Union to freeze half of Moscow's foreign exchange reserves, that is to say approximately the equivalent of 300 billion dollars which are invested mainly in the form of US treasury bonds.
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Vladimir Putin's entourage then thought it clever to let it be known that Moscow could link the ruble to gold and other raw materials.
First of all by the voice of the Secretary of the Security Council, Nicolai Patrushev, whose remarks were echoed by Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, confirming that the question was “
under discussion
”.
This possibility has spread like wildfire on social networks, being the subject of analyzes among economists, in particular on the very serious site
The Conversation
which has published an opinion piece by the economist Alexander Mihailov, professor of economics at the University of Reading in England.
The latter recalled that no currency is expressed in “
gold parity
” since the Swiss National Bank decided to put an end to it in 1999 for the Swiss franc.
The peg of a currency to a precious metal would obviously constitute a sign of weighty confidence.
Moreover, both Russia and China have been seeking for years to free themselves from the domination of the dollar and their geostrategic motivations are increasingly topical.
But is a return to the gold standard really realistic?
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