Russia's Finance Minister sees economy shrinking 4 percent in 2015

Reuters

Published Dec 26, 2014 06:35AM ET

Russia's Finance Minister sees economy shrinking 4 percent in 2015

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday that the Russian economy could contract by 4 percent next year and that the budget could have a deficit of more than 3 percent of gross domestic product if oil prices average $60 a barrel.

Siluanov also told journalists that his ministry had recalculated its budget forecasts to take into account oil prices at $60 a barrel and that he expected the ruble's average exchange rate to be around 51 rubles per dollar in 2015.