Russian official: G20 should focus on stabilizing emerging mkts - report

MOSCOW, Feb 21 (PRIME) -- The finance ministers and central bank chiefs of G20 countries should discuss the impact of the quantitative easing (QE) tapering by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) at the next meeting, the Russian central bank’s First Deputy Chairwoman Ksenia Yudayeva said, Reuters reported Friday.

"One of the agendas that are clear to me that finance ministers and central bankers need to discuss even at today's meeting and tomorrow's meeting and throughout this year, is the situation in emerging markets, the reaction of markets to the Fed's tapering," Yudayeva said.

According to Yudayeva, Russia was affected by the recent start of QE tapering because the national funds saw large capital outflows as investors fled risky assets. She said that Russia needs a strategy to tackle this.

She also said that Russia’s suppressed economic growth and the rising inflation amid weakening national currency are the biggest worries for the country at the moment. "We're worried about the general economic situation, mainly the fact that Russian growth rate has declined quite substantially," she said.

"This year we set a goal to reduce inflation substantially and we'll do as much as we can to reach our goal, both this year and the years to come, because this is a medium term strategy," Yudayeva said.

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