central bank decided that it would hike interest rates from 6.5 percent to 17 percent. The announcement was made at one a.m. It was intended to reassure investors and punish speculators. It didn’t work. It was read not as reassurance but as a sign of panic. As markets opened on the morning of Russia’s “Black Tuesday,” December 16, the foreign exchange market went into free fall. By the end of the day the ruble had fallen to 80 against the dollar. The following day Sberbank came under concerted attack. A million of its customers received text messages from addresses outside Russia warning that
...more
