Putin’s aide says strong ruble creates problems for economy

MOSCOW, Jul 21 (PRIME) -- The ruble has strengthened too much against the U.S. dollar creating problems for Russian exports and imports substitution, and the government and the central bank will tackle it, Andrei Belousov, aide of President Vladimir Putin, told reporters on Thursday.

“In my point of view, the ruble is too strong today, and it creates difficulties, I mean, this means lower revenue for the budget making the budget problem worse. It undermines competitiveness of Russian producers and the agriculturre, and I would like to stress that it partially offsets import substitution,” Belousov said.

“We actually see some slowdown in export growth, because competitiveness depends on a weak or strong ruble, and it is hardly the only problem, hardly the only factor which determines everything here. But, of course, objectively, ruble strengthening also puts exports under pressure.”

The government and the central bank have a whole array of instruments to curb the ruble firming, Belousov said. “What they will decide, what they will choose is a question of the current policy and responsibility of the government’s leadership and the central bank,” he said.

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