Since Russian troops occupied Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia have found themselves in competition to see which country has the world’s worst-performing currency. Russia’s ruble took an early lead in late 2014, but the Kazakh tenge and Azerbaijani manat have done their best to keep pace in the race to the bottom.
While all three currencies have recovered somewhat since the start of 2016, lagging energy prices continue to push Baku, Moscow, and Astana toward — or into — a recession, while keeping the pressure up on the values of the manat, ruble, and tenge. This infographic provides a stark illustration of how much the financial picture in Eurasia has changed in the past two years.
