Finland Times

 

Forex Bank which specialises in foreign exchange is not buying Russian ruble at the moment, reported news agency STT.

The Forex stopped buying ruble on Tuesday afternoon in Finland as well as in other Nordic countries.

The bank only receives back the currency from clients whom the currency had been sold to. However, the Forex continues to sell ruble.

Harri Andersson, Forex Bank country manager said the company will begin to purchase ruble once the currency has been set a certain level.

Meanwhile, Russia's economic difficulties and collapse of ruble will also hit the economy of its western neighbor Finland,  reported news agency Xinhua qouting analysts.

Xinhua adds:  Professor Pekka Sutela, specialist in Russian economy at the Lappeenranta University of Technology of Finland, told Finnish national broadcaster YLE on Wednesday that value plummet of ruble will result in a sharp drop in Russia's imports next year.

Much relying on the exports to Russia, Finland's total production will witness a steep downturn as a result, said Sutela.

 The constant devaluation of ruble has already led to several store closures in eastern Finland cities near the Russian border, the Finnish Finance newspaper Kauppalehti reported on Wednesday.

Kauppalehti said that the collapse of ruble will hit retail stores the hardest, and many stores in Imatra and Lappeenranta have already shut their doors.

Ruble devaluation will also affect the Finnish tourism.

New Year's day and Epiphany are traditionally high season for Russian tourists to travel to Finland. The ruble plummet would reduce the overnight stays in Finland in next January by at least 10 percent, predicted Finnish market researcher TAK.

 A downturn already appeared this autumn, as the number of tourists was 20 percent lower than the previous year, said TAK.

Forex Bank Finland announced on Tuesday evening that it had stopped buying Russian currency for the time being from new customers, although it will still exchange currency it has sold in the past to existing customers.

The economic downturns in recent years has caused fiscal insecurity in Russia, said Sutela.

Russian Central Bank has done all it can, but it proved useless, according to Sutela.

"The only thing that can be done is to try to calm the market. Someone must present a credible, long-term program to fix the Russian economy," Sutela was quoted as saying.

Finnish Prime minister Alexander Stubb commented on Wednesday that the Russian economic situation is very unstable, partially due to eastern Ukraine's security situation.

However, Stubb claimed that he does not see a direct security treat to the Baltic region.

The recent drop in oil prices, together with increased Western sanctions, has intensified the Russian economic crisis. Russian Central Bank raised interest rates but did not halt the falling trend. The value of ruble dropped by 19 percent on Tuesday.