Minister says ruble looks stable amid emerging market volatility

MOSCOW, Sep 25 (PRIME) -- The ruble looks very stable in light of volatility on other emerging markets, Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

“Important event are happening on external markets. If one looks at what is presently happening in the countries with emerging economies, the events are very volatile there. For example, the currencies of such states as Argentina, Turkey have halved against the U.S. dollar since the beginning of the year,” he said.

“In South Africa, India, Brazil the situation is not very good as well. And in light of all of this, the Russian ruble -- although it has also decreased against the euro-U.S. dollar basket about 15% from the beginning of the year -- looks really stable considering the background.”

According to Oreshkin, the national currency is backed by the macroeconomic situation including a non-deficit budget, a surplus of the current account, and a moderate foreign debt, as well as the budget rule mechanism which envisages using windfall oil and gas budget revenues from the oil price above $40 per barrel for to buy foreign currency.

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