A view of 500 ruble banknote against the background of Solovki Monastery, the Arkhangelsk region
Photo: Dmitry Tikhamirov
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Russia to Sell Crude Oil for Rubles
Russia will probably start selling crude oil for rubles in five years, RF Vice Premier, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin announced, Interfax reported from Cape Town.
Russia will probably shift to the ruble settlement for crude oil in the long term, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told the reporters in Cape Town. “In the long term, it is possible to transfer to rubles… some time in five years,” the minister said.
“Further on, it will depend on everything - stability of Russia’s economy, stability of ruble, stability of foreign trade with Russia, stability of growth,” Kudrin said, specifying that the companies themselves trade in the crude oil via exchanges. “For them, it should be a profitable vehicle in the first instance.”
At the same time, Kudrin went on, the U.S. dollar is much more stable than Russia’s ruble despite the recent weakening of the U.S. currency. “In the short and middle term, the ruble has manifested sufficient stability and even appreciation, but we are the country yet impacted by high risks of capital movement, changes of current account, other capital indicators capable of affecting the exchange policy,” the minister explained.
According to Kudrin, the recent growth in crude prices could be also attributed to the dollar depreciation, which is the currency for crude oil trading. “It was an additional factor for the price increase,” Kudrin said.
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