MOSCOW, September 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will avoid a second wave of the economic crisis if the global economy remains stable, the finance minister said on Thursday.
"If there is not a second wave globally, we will not have one either," Alexei Kudrin told the upper house of parliament.
He said Russia's financial system was now relatively stable, with 150 billion rubles ($5 billion) set aside for additional capitalization of the banking system in 2009.
However, a Russian presidential aide said earlier in the day that there are no grounds to say that Russia has survived the worst of the crisis and that economic growth is stable.
The country's GDP reported slight growth for the first time in August after falling for almost a year. Arkady Dvorkovich said the risks "are still high and as yet there are no signs of stable growth."
