Official: Russian finmin not to intervene to stop ruble rise

CHENGDU, China, Jul 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian Finance Ministry has no plans to weaken the national currency, Deputy Finance Minister Maxim Oreshkin told reporters on Monday.

“The ruble now corresponds to the balance of payments and the current oil prices. The rate reflects the state of the current account balance. We cannot say whether it is harmful or beneficial for the budget. It is what it must be under a floating rate policy,” Oreshkin said.

The official also said that the ministry is not discussing any restrictions for foreign currency reserves on accounts of the largest exporters.

Capital outflow will strengthen in July–December, Oreshkin said. “We rather expect that it will be slightly stronger in the second half of the year. This is due to a harder schedule of foreign debt as compared with the first half of the year. But we see no serious changes.”

Consumer prices may edge down in August on the month, the official said. Oreshkin also forecasted annual inflation at 5–6% in 2016. There are no serious barriers for the country to reach a 4% target inflation at the end of 2017, he said.

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