DUSHANBE, Tajikstan, May 25 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian deputy prime minister said Thursday he saw no economic sense in a bill earlier backed by parliament that would ban officials from quoting economic indicators in foreign currencies.

The lower house of parliament, the State Duma, passed in the first reading Wednesday a bill that would force all officials to use the ruble as the sole currency for economic measures.

"I don't quite understand the purpose or meaning of this legislative initiative," Alexander Zhukov said Thursday.

Zhukov said he understood why prices for goods in Russia should be set in rubles, but added: "I don't understand why prices for goods sold abroad must not be quoted in dollars."

His criticism echoed that of Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who said Wednesday at Moscow's Higher School of Economics that the ban was a patriotic but absurd act.

"The absurdity of the bill is obvious, but if it has been adopted in the first reading, it is most likely to be adopted in the second reading too," he said. "And it will mean that next time I will be talking about global GDP in rubles."