Russia's Finance Minister Sees Economy Shrinking 4% In 2015

(Reuters) - Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday that the Russian economy could contract by 4 percent next year and that the budget could have a deficit of more than 3 percent of gross domestic product if oil prices average $60 a barrel.

Siluanov also told journalists that his ministry had recalculated its budget forecasts to take into account oil prices at $60 a barrel and that he expected the ruble's average exchange rate to be around 51 rubles per dollar in 2015.

He added that state bank VTB could get 100 billion rubles ($1.9 billion) from the National Wealth Fund by the end of the year and 150 billion rubles more in 2015, while Gazprombank could get 70 billion rubles this or next year.