MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/: The Russian authorities are managing to minimize the volatility of the ruble exchange rate and to maintain macroeconomic stability, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
"The ruble is breaching psychological thresholds, but volatility is minimized by the efforts of our regulator," a Kremlin spokesman said, commenting on the depreciation of the ruble.
He drew attention to the fact that "now any world currency is under serious negative pressure from a number of circumstances in the global economy."
"This includes the dynamics of energy consumption and changes in prices for petroleum products and oil - of course, all this has an impact," the official noted.
"But in general, if we talk about macroeconomic stability, it is being maintained, as the president [Vladimir Putin] said," he stressed.
The Kremlin spokesman commented on a recent statement of the president, who said that one should not pay too much attention to the ruble exchange rate.
"In our country, the overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens receive their income in rubles. As we reduce our dependence on imports, the volatility [of the ruble exchange rate], accordingly, affects the dynamics of price changes less and less," the Kremlin spokesman explained.
Peskov noted that "[the government's] economic bloc and the regulator are doing whatever is necessary to ensure macroeconomic stability."
"They really manage to provide and maintain it," Peskov told reporters.
On the current situation
"Many world currencies are under the pressure of very negative circumstances of the global situation," Peskov said.
"In this regard, the government, the economic bloc, and the mega-regulator are working daily [on these economic issues], the President also keeps this topic in sight, regularly holds meetings on economic issues," he said.
Peskov declined to comment on how strongly, according to the Kremlin, such a depreciation of the ruble would affect the well-being of Russians, and how seriously this could affect inflation at the end of the year.
"I will not answer this question, you would better to address it to the government," he said.
The Kremlin official reiterated that "at the macro level, the situation is absolutely stable in terms of stability of the banking system and everything else."
"Dependence on exports in the overwhelming majority of sectors of the economy is gradually decreasing. Accordingly, the domestic market is reducing its dependence on volatility in world currency markets," Peskov said.
He also referred to the president who had repeatedly said last week that the undesirable consequences of the global economic crisis, triggered by an unprecedented pandemic, were making themselves felt.
The Kremlin spokesman stressed that the work on minimizing these negative consequences and reducing the number of people with insufficiently high income is an absolute priority in the work of the Russian government.
