The ruble declined as oil dropped and the Bank of Russia’s economic outlook bolstered speculation for more interest-rate cuts this year. The exchange rate weakened 0.6 percent to 68.043 per dollar by 2:14 p.m. in Moscow. Brent crude, the nation’s main export earner, declined 2.1 percent to $47.86. The central bank forecasts the economy will shrink by 3.9 percent to 4.4 percent in 2015, it said in a statement after keeping borrowing costs unchanged at 11 percent following five reductions since January. The decision was expected by all but three of 36 economists polled by Bloomberg. “It’s clear that the central bank hasn’t made a U-turn in its policy, but temporarily halted its easing cycle,” Tatiana Orlova, a Russia & CIS economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London, said by e-mail. “We continue to believe that the next policy move will be a cut.” The central […]