Russia’s central bank has announced it will hold an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday to discuss the level of its key interest rate after the rouble fell to its weakest point in almost 17 months. The currency has been steadily losing value since the beginning of the year and slid past the psychologically important level of 100 to the dollar on Monday morning. It has weakened by 26% this year as a result of a collapse in export revenues and growing military spending, making it the third worst-performing global currency in 2023. The decline has led to calls from senior Kremlin officials for higher borrowing costs. On ... (full story)