Oil price drop curing Russia of 'Dutch disease' - Siluanov
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - The decline in oil prices is curing Russia of "Dutch disease," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
Ways to cure the Russian economy of "Dutch disease" - slowing or zero growth in manufacturing due to strengthening of the national currency from strong raw material export earnings - have been discussed with varying intensity since the beginning of the 2000s, he said. The decline in oil prices and the ruble devaluation at the end of 2014 have now fundamentally changed the situation.
"We are being cured of this ailment. Why? Because those investments that previously went to the oil industry are now beginning to fall, capital is being directed to other areas unconnected with the raw materials sector," Siluanov said in the State Duma.
"Big investments are being made in agriculture, in those industries that substitute for imported goods. This is absolutely proper. We are supporting this in the framework of the anticrisis plan," Siluanov said.