Hit By Sanctions Due To The Invasion Of Ukraine, President Putin Says Economic Conditions And The Russian Ruble Exchange Rate Are Stable

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Wikimedia Commons / The Presidential Press and Information Office / kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia's economic condition is currently stable, while the ruble exchange rate returned to its early February level at an economic meeting held yesterday.

Russia has been subject to various sanctions by various countries and international organizations, targeting officials, businessmen, to business entities in the Red Bear Country, when it decided to invade Ukraine on February 24.

"Russia has withstood this unprecedented pressure. The situation is stable, the ruble exchange rate has returned to the level of the first half of February and is determined by an objectively strong balance of payments," he was quoted as saying by TASS April 19.

The surplus of Russia's current balance of payments exceeded 58 billion US dollars in Q1, "reaching a new all-time high," the president said, adding foreign exchange cash returned to the country's banking system and the volume of citizen deposits increased.

Inflation in Russia is stable now, Putin said. "I will separately note the issue of inflation. It is stable now," he said, adding that "consumer prices grew mainly over the last 1.5 months, by 9.4 percent, while on an annual basis on April 8 inflation was 17.5 percent."

According to the president, Russia's long-term financial stability at both the federal and regional levels should remain the main task of state authorities. He noted, the record level of the budget system surplus for the first quarter of this year.

"Additional decisions are needed here, and it is necessary to implement them at a time when the economy needs them most. The long-term stability of the financial system at both the federal and regional levels remains a key condition," President Putin said.

Furthermore, on the occasion, President Vladimir Putin pointed out that Russian authorities need to support domestic demand, including by increasing the availability of loans for businesses.

"It is very important to support internal demand at this time, avoiding excessive contraction," the Russian leader explained.

"Actions must be taken in accordance with the budget system and by supporting the availability of greater credit resources for businesses," he stressed.

The latter refers to the scope of operations of the Central Bank, the head of state said. "The Central Bank has started cutting interest rates, which will certainly make credit in the economy cheaper," he added.

Regarding inventories in Russian retail chains, President Putin said stocks in Russian retail chains were recovering and demand had normalized.

"Retail demand has normalized after short-term panic buying of certain items, and this is persistent, always the case in such situations. Stocks in retail chains are recovering," he said.

He added that Russian authorities "made the right move when they did not resort to manual, artificial market regulation, but offered private business freedom instead to find the most suitable and efficient solution."

"Such a solution is possible to support the smooth delivery of goods to retail chains, the availability of the products needed in stores," he concluded.