Falling ruble hits World Cup final stadium

MOSCOW (AP) The falling ruble has caused a 16 percent rise in the cost of rebuilding Moscow's Luzhniki stadium, which will host the final of the 2018 World Cup.

The ruble has lost almost half of its value against the dollar this year, raising the price of imported building materials.

That adds an extra three billion rubles ($51 million) to the previous 19-billion-ruble budget announced in July, Moscow's deputy mayor Marat Khusnullin says.

Imported materials make up 20 to 30 percent of those needed for the rebuild and Khusnullin vowed not to cut corners, saying ''we'll still use what's better.''

The 81,000-capacity arena is already two months ahead of schedule and could finish six months early, he says,