Zee Beam News

MOSCOW, April 4 (RIA Novosti) - Net capital outflow from Russia reached $22.8 billion in the first quarter of 2008, the Central Bank said on its website on Friday. Russia's top bank and the Finance Ministry expect capital inflow to resume in the country in April. According to various estimates, it could reach $26-40 billion in 2008. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said earlier that Russia had built a solid financial system capable of resisting similar capital outflows. The country's financial system collapsed in 1998, when net capital outflow exceeded $20 billion. However, economic growth is now steady in Russia, Kudrin said. Capital inflow exceeded capital outflow by $100 million for the first time in 11 years in 2005. Net capital inflow into Russia doubled from $42 billion in 2006 to a record $82.3 billion in 2007.