The main events by the morning: May 23

• The ruble will strengthen to 88 per dollar, but not for long. Experts believe that the current trend of strengthening the ruble will lead to a decrease in the dollar exchange rate to the range of 88-88.5 rubles. However, this will last no more than a month. As exporters sell foreign currency earnings and the Russian trade balance shrinks this summer, the dollar will rise above 90 rubles again.

• Deliveries of Chinese cars to Russia increased 1.4 times. In January-April of this year, China exported 237.1 thousand passenger cars to Russia, which is 37% more than in the same period last year. The cost of imported cars was about $3.5 billion.

• Germany again opposed the confiscation of Russian assets. German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said that the authorities are still against the confiscation of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. Germany considers only the confiscation of the proceeds from these assets acceptable.

• Italy has become the main importer of Russian gas to the EU. In early spring, the country increased purchases of Russian natural gas 2.6 times to 239 million euros, which is the highest since February 2023. In general, the European Union imported 1.14 billion euros worth of gas: 603 million euros for pipeline gas and 539 million euros for LNG.

• «Gazprom's» new problems: Austria may abandon a long-term gas supply contract. Austrian gas company OMV AG has warned that European courts may prohibit it from making payments to Gazprom. And the inability to pay for the gas supply means the termination of the contract. Currently, «Gazprom» and Vienna have a long-term contract until 2040.