Concerns are rising in Russia that the rouble’s value has been pushed too high by the recent oil price increase to more than US$65 per barrel.

The rouble reached a four-month high on Friday after oil prices rose to their highest level since October 2008.

Russia is now expected to allow the rouble to fall sharply in value on the back of any oil price corrections in order to regain competitiveness and help boost economic recovery.

If oil prices stay high, Russia’s only option will be to print more roubles and keep interest rates high.

The country’s anti-crisis advisors are now analysing the situation. Vice Premier Igor Shuvalov says that high oil prices have caused problems for the Russian economy in the past, “In previous years our budget expenditure had been unreasonably increased under the influence of high oil prices. I would like to say that this is very dangerous.”

Vladimir Mau, another of the government’s anti-crisis advisors, says the $65 a barrel price is far from ideal, “the current oil price is the least comfortable for Russia because it is too high to carry out a modernisation of the economy but too low to sit back and spend.”