MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - The oil price forecast for 2007 has been reduced from $61 to $55 per barrel, a deputy Russian finance minister said Monday.
Tatiana Golikova said oil price forecasts will also be reduced from $56 to $53 per barrel in 2008, and from $52 to $50 in 2009.
She said the forecast "will be adjusted downward."
She said the three-year budget will first be drafted against the backdrop of a fall in oil prices.
Golikova said the three-year draft will also take into account a reduction of customs duties as part of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization.
The Russian federal budget depends on oil prices, and may fail to cover its losses in case of lower oil prices.
In 2004, the Stabilization Fund was established in Russia to accrue windfall profits from high world oil prices.
The fund has hit $100 billion, and its resources, which were initially to be invested in the highly liquid debt securities of foreign states, are instead now being converted into foreign currency and placed in Federal Treasury forex accounts with the Central Bank.
According to the Finance Ministry's investment formula, U.S. dollars account for 45% of the Stabilization Fund's foreign currency, euros make up 45%, and 10% is in British pounds.
The government commission for budget projections said in late December that the fund will reach some $160 billion in late 2007, more than $200 billion in 2008, and over $250 billion in 2009.
