The USSR doesn't exist already for 30 years, but its ruble is still quoted by the Central Bank

About curious financial phenomenon explained Associate Professor of Finance and Prices of Russian University of Economics named after G.V. Plekhanov Yelena Voronkova.

Almost 30 years have passed since the collapse of the USSR, and the Soviet ruble still exists! In any case, the Central Bank of Russia regularly quotes the exchange rate of the Soviet ruble. For what? - the reader will be surprised.

It's simple: this is done to account for the financial legacy: it is necessary to constantly re-evaluate the part of the Russian public debt associated with the Soviet era. Therefore, in settlements with foreign states under the agreements of the former USSR, Russia uses the official exchange rate of the USSR State Bank of foreign currencies to the ruble, recalculating with their help this part of the state debt in a freely convertible currency. That is why, in addition to the "Leninist" ruble, other currencies that have gone out of circulation are also quoted in the Central Bank, including the German mark, the French franc and the Italian lira.

The exchange rate of the USSR ruble on April 21, 2021 was $ 1.8797, and over all these 30 years it has grown by about 3% (in the last days of the USSR, on December 25, 1991, it cost $ 1.8182).

It is no secret that, unlike most of the former Soviet republics, Russia has recognized its responsibility for the obligations of the former USSR, and, moreover, has become the legal successor of Soviet foreign assets. The national debt that our country received from those times was approximately $ 100 billion, and the foreign exchange assets of Russia, which were transferred from the USSR, exceeded 150 billion.

It is no secret that the ruble exchange rate in the USSR was set by government directives and was tied to a solid gold base. It was by the gold content that the ruble and foreign exchange rates were determined, and therefore it was stable and not tightly connected with the world situation. Although, of course, the purchasing power of the ruble was influenced by the volume of foreign exchange flows from the country's foreign economic activity, so from time to time the government of the USSR changed its exchange rate.

Today, the Bank of Russia, determining the official rate of the State Bank of the USSR, is based on the principles adopted in the 1990s - the method of a weighted currency basket, which includes, in a certain proportion, the dollar, pound sterling, yen, French and Swiss francs. The official rate of the USSR State Bank is calculated by the sum of the currency components in dollar terms, based on the share of each of the currencies in the basket. That is, the main factor in the change in the exchange rate of the USSR ruble is still the dollar rate.

To date, Russia has almost completely paid off the state debt of the USSR, but the repayment of debts in favor of our country has not yet been completed, although it has either fully or partially forgiven debts to many states, having written off more than 90% of the so-called bad debts to Cuba, Mongolia, North Korea , Vietnam, Syria ... As of October 2020, Russia has about 15.8 billion dollars left to receive.