VEB: Russia’s capital outflow speeds up to $15 bln in February

MOSCOW, Mar 24 (PRIME) -- Russia’s net private capital outflow sped up to U.S. $15 billion in February after $9 million in January, state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) said in a statement Tuesday quoting preliminary data.

“According to our preliminary estimates, net private capital outflow increased to $15 billion in February from a $9 billion net private capital outflow in January. This is a rather high level, considering the fact that households are no longer active players on the currency market,” VEB quoted its chief economist Andrei Klepach as saying.

“Lower investment in January-February does yet not sufficiently reflect changes in circumstances. We expect the decline to deepen in the next few months given restrictive rates of new borrowings, high level of uncertainty and a peak of external debt payments.”

The Finance Ministry puts Russia’s net private capital outflow at $70–90 billion in 2015, while the Economic Development Ministry’s forecast stands at below $100 billion.

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