The Finance Ministry expects the average price of oil in 2020 of $30 per barrel. The Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov in interview to the newspaper “Vedomosti” noted that Russia has created the necessary financial buffers and live even at an oil price of $10. According to the Ministry, in the baseline scenario the decline in GDP will be 5%, the budget deficit will be about 4% of GDP. “As for predictions, but this year we’re looking at about $30 per barrel (the average for the year given the relatively high prices in the first quarter), and another a little more. Even if we had in March made a deal with OPEC, would still have to revise it, as the global demand for oil and petroleum products declined sharply because of the pandemic, and the agreements would not last long,” said Mr Siluanov. According to him, the current deal is better than the last, now that the talks were attended by all oil-producing countries, including the United States. To compensate for lost oil and gas revenues, the Finance Ministry intends this year to increase the national debt by 1.5-2% of GDP and to attract the market 4-4,5 trillion In additional proposals to increase taxes, in addition to the introduction of income tax on Bank deposits above 1 million rubles, is not considered. “We don’t cut spending, even on the contrary, they increase, so will use the NWF funds and borrowings to Finance as current liabilities, and the anti-crisis program”,— said Mr. Siluanov. He noted that budget expenditures in the current year will be increased by 1.07 trillion roubles. we will Remind, the Bank of Russia expects inflation by the end of 2020 in the amount of 3.8 to 4.8% per annum. According to the Chairman of the accounts chamber Alexey Kudrin, now in Russia there are practically no risks for high inflation.Read more about the forecast of the Central Bank on inflation and GDP — in the material “Kommersant” “, the Virus-killing inflation”.
