Russian central bank says ruble slide 'critical', to take further measures

[MOSCOW] The rapid slide of the ruble is a "critical situation" and the Russian central bank will take additional measures soon, the bank's first deputy chairman Sergei Shvetsov said on Tuesday.

"The situation is critical. We could not imagine this in our worst nightmare a year ago," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.

The overnight hike in its key interest to 17 per cent "will be followed by other measures to stabilise the situation," he said.

Despite the massive increase of the rate from 10.5 per cent, the ruble continued to fall sharply throughout the day, hitting the 80 to the dollar mark and decreasing in value by 20 per cent in a matter of hours.

"Trust me, the choice the central bank's board of directors made a choice between the bad and much, much worse," Mr Shvetsov added.

"In the coming days, the situation will be comparable with the toughest period of 2008. I think that the experience we accumulated over the past crises will help us find the right solution and survive this situation. I very much hope for this."

AFP