REUTERS
Oil continued to rally on Thursday morning, with prices for Brent crude topping $63 per barrel – a record high for prices this year, Radio Liberty has reported.
Oil prices started their downward plunge at the end of June last year, when oil was at $115 per barrel. Since then prices have fallen almost by a half.
The current partial recovery in the oil market will come as a relief to countries such as Russia, which rely on oil and gas for a large part of their budget revenues. Russia’s ruble, which slumped as oil fell, has perked up in step with the oil market recovery.
The Russian currency peaked in its devaluation in December 2014 at RUB 80 to the dollar and RUB 100 to the euro, but has recovered value significantly recently. The current exchange rate is less than RUB 50 to the dollar and RUB 53 to the euro.