MOSCOW, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- The value of the Russian ruble fell Friday after a week of gains, losing 2.5 percent to close at 53.88 to the dollar at the end of trading in Moscow.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the ruble would stabilize in the new year, after the Christmas and New Year holidays, admitting Friday Russia would need to adjust to "new economic realities." Only a few weeks ago Moscow downplayed the effects of a fall in the price of oil, Russia's foremost export, and the impact of Western sanctions.


Siluanov added he expected the ruble to stay at around 51 to the dollar if the global price of oil stays at around $60 per barrel, and called for less spending on defense and law enforcement, which currently occupies one-third of Russia's budget.

"The budget structure is extremely ineffective. It needs to be changed in the conditions when we have limited access to new sources of income."

Friday's decline occurred despite measures that moved it from trading at 80.10 to the dollar on Dec. 16. The central bank eased restrictions on spending dollars and euros, and state-controlled exporters were ordered to decrease foreign-currency holdings. The ruble has fallen by 39 percent this year.

"We're back to fundamentals," Sergey Fishgoyt of Moscow's Otkritie Bank told Bloomberg News. "The fundamental range for the ruble is now 58 to 68" to the dollar, he noted.