The Russian government will not support the stock market or devaluate the national currency if there is a new economic crisis, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday.
“We have learned the lessons [of the 2008 crisis] so there won’t be such actions,” Siluanov said while commenting on the growing speculation that a possible global economic crisis may cause the devaluation of the ruble.
Speaking on the possibility of state support for the country’s stock market, Siluanov also said that in 2008, “it was the wrong decision even though Vnesheconombank had earned about 30 billion rubles ($1 billion) on it.”
Russia’s Central Bank granted $50 billion to the national development bank, Vnesheconombank (VEB), in 2008 to extend subordinated loans to domestic businesses to help them refinance their foreign liabilities.