Russian PM says domestic economy under control

Russia is working to keep the domestic economic situation under control amid the COVID-19 outbreak and low oil prices, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Thursday.

"We have all the tools to go through it calmly, without shocks. We have enough resources to maintain financial stability", Mishustin said at a cabinet meeting.

He said the government and central bank are promptly taking all necessary measures to stabilize the situation on the financial and oil markets.

To curb the depreciation of the ruble, the central bank has suspended the purchase of foreign currency for 30 days, Mishustin said.

Mishustin said the central bank's gold assets in excess of 570 billion U.S. dollars and the National Wealth Fund assets of over 10 trillion rubles (nearly 135 billion dollars) are sufficient to compensate the budget losses from low oil prices for many years.

At the same time, a weak ruble can do good to the Russian economy as it facilitates "import substitution" in the industrial and agricultural sectors and boosts the export of hi-tech products, Mishustin said.

The ruble along with Russian stocks continued to tumble on Thursday over fears about the global COVID-19 outbreak and persistently weak oil prices.

TV BRICS reports with reference to Xinhua News Agency.