MOSCOW –- It hasn't been quite as bad as "Black Tuesday," but Russia's volatile ruble continued its slide on Wednesday. That slowed down, however, after Russia's finance ministry took emergency measures to try to stem the currency's precipitous plunge.
Meanwhile, Russian consumers frantically flocked to stores to buy up big-ticket items, as they looked to forestall massive price hikes following the ruble’s fall in past days.
But many also dropped thousands of dollars worth of rubles on everything from booze to breakfast cereal, prompting social media users to joke that they were "investing" their money in the items.
“Good that my husband invested in vodka. We’ll get drunk out of sorrow when our 20 bucks is gone,” tweeted one user.
Хорошо, что муж в водку вложился. Напьемся с горя, когда от двадцатки зеленых ничего не останется.— Queen Nothing (@schmidt_katya) December 17, 2014
"With the goal of saving assets during the crisis, I invested in a good bottle of cognac," wrote another.
С целью сбережения активов во время кризиса вложился в бутылку хорошего коньяка— Торба (@oh_thoes) December 17, 2014
Others crowded into supermarkets to stock up on food and home supplies. At one Auchan grocery in Moscow, a cashier told Mashable that she helped “several” customers who had spent $1,000 to $2,000 dollars on products.
мужчина передо мной в Ашане закупился на пару месяцев, кассир говорит, с выходных многие покупают на $1500-2000 pic.twitter.com/hJIEIqHlwp— Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) December 17, 2014
Even more opted for pricer, durable goods.
Several car dealerships suspended sales, as they were unsure how far the ruble would fall, The Wall Street Journal reported. But with consumers' confidence in banks low, dealerships that remained open saw a wave of customers looking to buy automobiles, especially luxury vehicles.
Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant, notified consumers that its prices would rise on Thursday. The news brought in larger-than-normal crowds for a Wednesday.
Ikea isn’t alone in hiking its prices. Apple did the same on Wednesday, after it shut down online sales in Russia on Tuesday to readjust them. As of Wednesday afternoon, the prices of iPhone 6 devices ranged from $785 dollars to nearly $1,000. In comparison, the 6 costs $649 in Apple's online store.
новые русские цены на айфоны pic.twitter.com/6rRac0ZxFD— Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) December 17, 2014
Russian Apple Store offline, new prices again. iPhone 6 16Gb now costs you 2 Russian average monthly salaries pic.twitter.com/TmmhYMRBsT— Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) December 17, 2014
Some Russians opted to invest their money in Bitcoin, the digital currency, CNBC reported.
The ruble has collapsed to historic lows this week, alongside falling oil prices. A series of sanctions against Russia by the West has also had a devastating impact on the country’s economy.
Faced with the possibly of a full-blown run on the banks, Russia's finance ministry sold some of its $7 billion of foreign reserves to bolster the ruble after it suffered its worst devaluation in 16 years. The struggling currency lost 17% to the U.S. dollar on Monday and Tuesday alone, adding up to a 52% loss against the dollar this year.
M.Video electronics store, Moscow, doing brisk trade as Russians hit shops in anticipation of price hikes on imports pic.twitter.com/2iKU7Dmmsr— Tom Parfitt (@parfitt_tom) December 17, 2014
Nikolai, 54, a doctor buying a computer, said he hadn't bought dollars earlier because that wd "play into the hands of our American enemies"— Tom Parfitt (@parfitt_tom) December 17, 2014
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev downplayed the crisis.
“Everyone recognizes that the ruble is undervalued. It has become detached from fundamentals, and does not reflect the state of the economy,” he was quoted as saying. “There is no point in introducing extremely strict regulation of this area, such as there has been in previous periods. That does not help anyone.”
“Our future actions should be based on market mechanisms."
Financial analysts, on the other hand, didn’t hold back. Timothy Ash, an analyst at Standard Bank, called the ministry of finance’s move “unbelievable stuff.”
“Why, if the central bank has $413 billion in reserves, is the ministry of finance being called on to put its hand in its pocket for some small change -- they are, like, checking the back of the sofas at this stage,” Ash told The Financial Times. "I don’t think I have ever seen any currency go through such extreme gyrations in all my time in the industry."
"The ruble is fast becoming untradable -- maybe that is what the central bank wants,” he added.
The Central Bank of Russia gave no indication on Wednesday that it would intervene. Even if the bank did, it is unclear how much that would have helped. Its sale of foreign cash to the tune of $1.96 billion on Monday did not manage to slow the ruble’s fall.
The ruble's rout poses a threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin's grip on power. He has offered relative prosperity and economic stability to the country's middle class during his 15 years in office in exchange for passive political participation. Should the ruble's slide cause Russia to default, like it did in 1998, it could lead to civil unrest, critics say.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press