Ruble’s exchange rate stable, insists Russian president

KABUL (Pajhwok): Russian President Vladimir Putin says the ruble’s exchange rate is returning to the levels of early February.

Addressing a meeting on his country’s sanctions-hit economy on Monday, Putin insisted: “Russia has withstood this unprecedented pressure.”

Russia’s surplus of the current account of balance of payments hit an all-time high and crossed $58 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal, he claimed.

TASS news agency quoted Putin as saying: “I will separately note the inflation issue. It is stabilising now. Consumer prices grew notably over the last 1.5 months by 9.4%. In annual terms, as of April 8, inflation amounted to 17.5%.”

He went on to refer a record level of budget surplus hat was registered for the first quarter of the year.

Long-term stability of the financial system both at the federal and regional levels remained a crucial condition, the president acknowledged.

Putin pointed out that the number of registered unemployed people in Russia stayed at a rather low level.

PAN Monitor/mud