Fall, fall, fall...

Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin announced on October 17 that Russian stock market indices will continue to decline due to risks in the global market. He said this during a Duma meeting.

The RTS and MICEX indices, as Kudrin recalled, are related to the performance of the Russian economy, to world indices, and also reflect changes in oil prices. The Russian economy is closely linked to the world economy, since Russia is a supplier of energy resources. In the last two to three months, risks have been increasing on world markets, “and therefore our indices will fall,” the minister said.

He added that US economic growth for 2009 is projected at about 0%, and in the eurozone also about 0%. “There hasn’t been such a low growth rate for 18 years,” Kudrin said. According to the minister, the period of growth is being replaced by falling demand and a severe recession in the global economy.

After Kudrin's speech, the RTS and MICEX indices began to fall even faster. The RTS index lost more than 5.5%, the MICEX – about 8%.