Russian Finance Minister says ruble has strengthened too much

The ruble has strengthened too much, Finance Minister of Russia Anton Siluanov said delivering a lecture at St. Petersburg State University, on April 24.

As the demand for foreign currencies increased dramatically at the end of 2014, Siluanov recalled, the outflow of capital intensified speeding up the inflation. The minister said the Bank of Russia managed to stabilize gold and forex reserves, “ruble was stable at first, now it has begun to appreciate.” “It has appreciated too much, we think,” Siluanov said.

The Finance Ministry pins hopes with the next meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia, the minister said. “We pin hopes with their decisions, the more so as the last ones were positive and resulted in reduction of rates,” the minister said.

As EADaily reported earlier, at the last meeting on March 13, the CB Board of Directors reduced its key rate by a percentage point to 14%.