MOSCOW (Sputnik) – US presidential elections will not have any significant effect on Russia as the state’s payments balance is independent from external funding, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Maxim Oreshkin said Tuesday.
"Russia presently depends on external risks much less than two-three years ago. In general, if any extraordinary event occurs on the global market — decrease in Chinese economic growth, wrong course of Brexit process, presidential elections in the United States will take place in a week — this will influence Russia less, as our payments balance does not depend on external financing," Oreshkin said at the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) conference.
Dependence on external threats still exists, Oreshkin stressed, specifying that dynamics of global oil prices is the main factor that could influence Russia.