Russian cbank: Foreign economic conditions unlikely to worsen more

MOSCOW, Mar 13 (PRIME) -- Foreign economic conditions remain unfavorable for Russia and still put pressure on the national economy, but they are unlikely to worsen further, according to the central bank’s data seen by PRIME on Friday.

“Nevertheless, further worsening of foreign economic conditions is not expected. Russian Eurobonds’ yield significantly exceeds the yield of Eurobonds of countries with the same ratings,” it said.

The major negative impact on the Russian economy is caused by shrinking revenues from exports and limited opportunities to raise capital abroad, the regulator said.

But there are signs of oil prices stabilization and most market participants do not expect oil quotations to fall further, the bank said.

The current oil price fall will not hurt the Russian economy as much as during the 2008–2009 crisis, the central bank said.

In 2008–2008, oil prices fell on the back of a global economic crisis, but nowadays the global economy is recovering. Moreover, the ruble devaluation supported foreign exchange revenues growth of national exporters in late 2014, it said.

The regulator estimated the net influence of the oil price decrease on energy budget revenues at 4.6 percentage points of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 against 2014. This year the influence will be offset by ruble devaluation that will contribute 2.8 percentage points to GDP in 2015.

Russia’s budgetary policy will support the Russian economic growth in 2015–2016 by boosting demand in the public sector, the regulator also said.

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