Russian central bank sharply raises capital outflow forecast

The Russian Central Bank on Tuesday sharply revised upward its forecast for capital outflows for 2011. Capital outflows from Russia for this year would reach 70 billion U.S. dollars, compared with 36 billion dollars in the bank's previous forecast, according to its report published Tuesday. It said total capital outflows for the first nine months of 2011 grew three-fold to 49.3 billion dollars, as compared with the same period of 2010. In September alone, net capital outflows reached 13 billion dollars. Sergei Ignatiev, chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, said the reason behind accelerated capital outflows has been the "not-so-perfect investment climate in the country." "Both Russian and foreign investors, likely, prefer the other countries," Ignatiev was quoted by RBC news agency as saying. Still, the bank believes Russia's current account surplus would be big enough to keep the country's international reserves growing, which might rise by 22.7 billion dollars this year.