Russia’s federal budget will fall short of 100 billion rubles ($3 billion) if the annual world oil price averages $100 per barrel, Deputy Finance Minister Tatiana Nesterenko said on Monday.
“We believe the shortfall of budget revenues due to this forecast will be no more than 100 billion rubles,” Nesterenko said, adding that the impact of lower world oil prices on the Russian economy would be partially offset by the weaker ruble against the US dollar.
Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov had previously said the average oil price could equal $100 per barrel instead of the $115 per barrel forecast projected in the 2012 budget.
In early June, President Vladimir Putin signed amendments to the 2012 budget considerably increasing the projected oil price for this year to narrow the budget deficit, despite the continued fall in global oil prices.
The amendments were initiated in the spring of 2012 when the price of Russia’s Urals export crude blend hovered at the level of $115-120 per barrel, prompting the government to increase the projected average oil price for the year from $100 to $115 per barrel
Oil prices have nosedived in the past three months, sinking below the $100 per barrel level amid increased investor concerns about the slowing of the world economy caused by the flaring eurozone debt crisis and worsening macroeconomic data from the United States and China.
