ITAR-TASS: Oil prices of 70$ per barrel not to have adverse impact on Russian budget
Oil prices at about 70 U.S. dollars per barrel will have no adverse impact on Russia’s budget, Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukayev said in an interview with Russia’s television Channel One on Friday.
He said a decline in the rouble’s exchange rate had mitigated impacts of plunging oil prices on the country’s budget. “For us as a spending unit, for the budgetary system, the rouble-denominated oil price is much more important than the dollar component,” he said.
According to Ulyukayev, when the oil price was 110 U.S. dollars per barrel and the rouble exchange rate was 32-33 roubles per one U.S. dollar, the rouble-denominated oil price was about 3,600 roubles. “Its price in roubles is about the same now, when the oil price is 71-72 U.S. dollars per barrel and the rouble exchange rate is 49-50 roubles per dollar - the same 3,600 roubles. It means that the budget will be good and we will even have a minor surplus. And the financial system in general will be rather comfortable,” he said.