by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /br /The Russian ruble strengthened the most in more than three months against the dollar yesterday (gaining 1.7 percent to 32.2247 per dollar at one point) as oil rebounded above $60 a barrel and OAO Sberbank reported better-than-expected earnings. Sberbank shares jumped 5.1 percent after first-quarter net income turned out to be above analyst estimates. But the rise was also helped by the fact that Russia’s central bank spent approximately $2 billion from reserves to try to stop the ruble from falling yesterday, taking central bank reserve spending over the two working days since they lowered interest rates half a percantage point on Friday to around $4 billion, a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchiveamp;sid=aTqgrOY1vdEo"according to reports in the newspaper Kommersant/a.br /br /Russia’s central bank cut its main interest rates for the fourth time in less than three months at the end of last week after the government estimated the ...

Oman’s extensive offshore financial assets, in addition to the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves (the combination of which amount to roughly 75% of GDP) will enable it to provide fiscal stimulus and fund projected deficits without resorting to debt accumulation, at least over the short to medium term, according to Moodys Investors Service’s latest annual credit report on the country. Oman, the economy of which relies heavily on oil and gas exports, thus retained its A2 investment-grade sovereign rating despite a collapse in world oil prices since July 2008, and dour growth prospects predicted for the current year.

One additional challenge facing Oman is its use of enhanced albeit expensive oil recovery techniques, which analysts note pushes up the cost of production. The average cost of pumping oil in Oman rose from around $8/barrel in 2005 to $16/barrel in 2008, …