By Nick Edwards
LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble needs to be weaker to boost companies' competitiveness in the medium term, though increased investment could also help achieve this, Deputy Economy Minister Andrey Klepach said on Tuesday. "From my point of view, maybe not now, but .... in the mid-term future (the rouble exchange rate) can be some impediment for growth," Klepach told Reuters Insider television in an interview.
"We have really weak competitiveness in many Russian industries and to improve this competitiveness we need a much lower exchange rate than we have."
The Russian central bank has been moving to allow greater exchange rate flexibility as it shifts to inflation targeting, and officials have repeatedly said they have no plans to reintroduce any form of capital controls. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ For a link to the interview, please click on http://link.reuters.com/zaq77q ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Klepach said a post-recession recovery in investment could also help improve competitiveness -- a key goal for Russia as it strives to reduce dependence on natural resources and develop other sectors of the economy, such as high technology.
"We hope that as Russian companies, as foreign investors can invest in Russia more, there is scope to improve competitiveness," he said, speaking in English.
He added that foreign direct investment in Russia needs to recover to "a minimum" of 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) -- or some 1 trillion roubles ($31.8 billion).
In 2009, Russia received just $16 billion in FDI as it suffered its worst recession in 15 years -- down from the $60-70 billion that came in annually before the crisis.
(Writing by Toni Vorobyova; Editing by John Stonestreet)