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Russia will not repeat mistake of 2008 economic crisis: minister

06 July 2012 20:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Russian government would not repeat its "mistake" of supporting the stock markets if a new wave of financial crisis struck, Financial Minister Anton Siluanov said Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"We have learnt from the lessons of the (2008) crisis, we would not repeat the actions of the past time," Siluanov told the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, at a plenary session.

During the global financial crisis in 2008-2009, the Russian government drew some 175 billion rubles (about 6 billion U.S. dollars) from the National Wealth Fund (NWF), which supports the Russian pension system, to smooth the impact of the crisis on the economy.

Siluanov also said the Russian Central Bank should not gradually devalue the ruble.

"The exchange rate will swing within the range set by the central bank," he said.

According to the Russian Central Bank, the ruble weakened 4.3 percent in real terms against major currencies in June compared with May.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev urged the bank on June 2 to intervene in the foreign currency market when necessary to keep the rubble stable.