According to Finance Minister, Alexei Kudrin, Russia’s net capital depletion will contract more and might be “close to a zero” this year, although the ruble is said to be tougher than projected because of increased oil prices.

Initially the outflow was estimated by the government at as much as $20 billion for.

It is said that oil prices, has nearly gone twice during the last one year, enhancing Russia’s foreign currency profits.

The Central bank stated that the Russian net capital depletion minimized to $12.9 billion in the first quarter from $35 billion in the same period in the previous year.

The “global recovery will be slow and long drawn out,” Kudrin said. “Demand is not strong enough yet and it is being propped up by fiscal measures. There is also a problem of the size of the debt owed by some developed countries, such as Italy and Japan”.

Yesterday, Kudrin, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke had a meeting.

According to Kudrin, Finance Ministry of Russia is to rework the ruble exchange rate assessment for this year, since it anticipates for the currency to strengthen as the oil prices are increasing.