Russian minister: Capital outflow may reach $100bn in 2014

Capital outflow from Russian economy may account to 100 billion U.S. dollars this year, Minister for Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev said Thursday. "Judging from the forecast which says that in the first quarter the outflow will amount to about 60 billion dollars, the total outflow this year will be at about 100 billion (dollars) level," the minister told a stock exchange conference. Official estimations showed that in January-February up to 37 billion dollars have left Russia. In April, the ministry is to publish an updated forecast this year as well as several scenarios of economic development. The total capital outflow from Russia stood at 62 billion dollars in 2013, Ulyukayev said, adding that the Russian economy would grow by under 1 percent in the first quarter of 2014 ending next Monday. Should the 100-billion-dollar outflow actually confirmed, he said, it leads to Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) slowdown to 0.6 percent compared with 1.3 percent posted in 2013. Earlier this week, CEO of the state-owned Sberbank German Gref warned that Russian economy would face flat growth or even recession if capital outflow amounts to 100 billion U.S. dollars this year. The High School of Economy, a leading Russian think tank, forecast in March the Russian economy would head to stagflation in 2014 with sluggish economic growth and hiking inflation rate.