THE Russian economy will rebound and the ruble will stabilize, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday at his annual press conference.

    He said the current crisis could last two years at most, but the economy could recover faster if external factors change for the better. Putin said the government and Russian central bank are generally working correctly to deal with the current economic woes, albeit some of their action was belated.

    “The current situation has been provoked by external factors, but it’s worth noting that we haven’t done what we planned to do to diversify our economy,” Putin said, adding that the current crisis should create incentives to diversify the nation’s economy and ease its dependence on oil and gas earnings.

    Putin said the nation’s currency reserves are sufficient to keep the economy in stable condition, adding that the central bank shouldn’t aimlessly “burn” its reserves, currently standing at US$419 billion.

    The government also needs to work with exporters to encourage them not to stash their hard currency earnings, to help the ruble stabilize, he said.

    “Our economy will overcome the current situation. How much time will be needed for that? Under the most unfavorable circumstances I think it will take about two years,” he said.

    The ruble rallied slightly after the news, before depreciating again by 1.5 percent to reach 61 rubles to the U.S. dollar.

    Russian markets have been rattled by Western sanctions and the rapid fall in the price of oil, and Russia’s currency has almost halved since January, plummeting a catastrophic 24 percent in one day and hitting 80 rubles to the U.S. dollar Tuesday. Russia’s benchmark MICEX index rallied by 4.5 percent by midday Thursday.

    (SD-Agencies)