Russia’s economy chief cheers ruble slide

AFP, Moscow :
Russia’s economy minister Monday welcomed the ruble’s rapid slide to historic lows as a boon for exporters that should help industry and promote stalling growth.
The ruble began trending lower in late December and has lost nearly two percent of its value against both the dollar and euro in the last three trading sessions alone.
The euro shot up one percent to 47.65 rubles in the opening minutes before pulling back to around 47.30 in evening trading on the Moscow Exchange-still above the 47.25 record it had set in the worst months of Russia’s 2008- 2009 financial crisis.
The dollar was trading at 34.60 rubles after reaching a five- year low point of 34.80.
“Like in any panic situation, the future is becoming rather hard to predict,” Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank observed.
The latest moves prompted the US investment giant Goldman Sachs to revise its year-end forecast for the dollar to 35.20 from 33.50 rubles.
It added that the euro would probably be worth 41.50 rubles by the end of 2014 rather than the 39.50 target it had originally set.