It is not opportune to consider paying in rubles for Russian natural gas, ex-Deputy Prime Minister Alexandru Muravschi says

The former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Minister of Economy Alexandru Muravschi considers that it is not the right moment to raise the issue of shifting from payments in dollars to payments in Russian rubles for the natural gas supplied to Moldova by Russia’s gas company Gazprom, Info-Prim Neo reports. “It is not yet clear what will happen to the Russian ruble,” the expert said at the meeting of the Talk Club “Free Economic Zone. “As far as I know, the Central Bank of Russia together with the Russian government decided to allow the ruble depreciate slowly - by 0.3 kopeks a week initially and by 0.35 kopeks a week in the first quarter of next year. So, it is hard to forecast how much the Russian ruble will cost in the near future. It would be rational to return to this initiative later, when the financial crisis become less severe,” Alexandru Muravschi said. Muravschi also said that he does not think that the fall in oil prices on the world markets could lead to the reduction in the prices of gas supplied by Gazprom to Moldova. “I know that the price of gas is calculated on the basis of the world price of petroleum, which did not go down as much as the gasoline and diesel oil,” Muravschi said. He considers that the improvement in the Moldovan-Russian relations, as it was mentioned during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s official visit to Chisinau, could result in lower Russian gas prices for Moldova. “This would mean that Moldova admits that the price of gas is a political instrument, but in fact it is an economic matter. Yet, the price of gas could be decreased by increasing the volume of gas transported via Moldova to the Balkans. It seems that Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Trade Igor Dodon discusses the given issue with the Russian authorities and Gazprom,” Muravschi said.