Official says Russian govt sees no meltdown risks in 2020

MOSCOW, Mar 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian government sees no risks of economic decline in 2020, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov told reporters on Wednesday.

“There are no such risks so far. We are tracking the markets carefully, we are sticking to a more or less positive scenario so far,” Belousov said.

“Many things will depend on whether a second wave (of market volatility) will come or not. We have gathered with the Central Bank of Russia, the Finance Ministry today in the morning, had a look – there are no such patterns so far. Besides, the structure and the nature of recovery that has happened today (in oil, stock market figures, activity, people’s demand) we see that everything is quite predictable.”

According to Belousov, the Russian market demonstrates no traces of a strong capital outflow.

Belousov said that prices for household equipment and pharmaceuticals can rise due to weakening of the ruble but the authorities can hold them down.

He also said that inflation is unlikely to accelerate above 4% in 2020.

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