Russian ruble may firm if foreign economic climate stabilizes-minister

MOSCOW, Mar 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian ruble will not weaken if the foreign and domestic economic situations stabilize, and may even strengthen, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Tuesday.

“If we see some stability now in the foreign economic plan, the ruble should not weaken further, and a reverse process is possible, that is an inflow of money from foreign currencies into the ruble. Though the process will take time,” Siluanov told reporters.

The weighted average rate of the ruble with tomorrow settlement increased 23.47 kopecks against the U.S. dollar to 35.9316, according to the Moscow Exchange’s data released earlier Tuesday.

Siluanov also attributed capital outflow from the country, estimated by the Economic Development Ministry at U.S. $65 billion–$70 billion for January–March, to the fact that investors preferred to invest money into foreign currency.

The situation made a U-turn and the ruble rate has started to climb, he said.

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