Russian oil price in rubles hits two-year low

Alsharq Tribune- M.Essam 

The price of Russian oil has fallen below 4,000 rubles per barrel – this is the lowest in two years and 40% lower than what is laid out in the budget, according to Reuters.

Reuters writes that as of today, the average price of the Urals and ESPO blend has fallen to 48.92 dollars per barrel, or 3.9 thousand rubles. This is less than the figure laid out in the budget of the Russian Federation – 6.7 thousand rubles.

This is the lowest price since May 2023, and it is also significantly lower than the updated government forecast – 5,281 rubles per barrel, which is used for calculating taxes.

Despite this, the Russian Federation increased military spending by a quarter this year – to 6.3% of GDP. This figure is the highest since the Cold War.

Moscow expects a collapse in oil prices

In recent days, the Russian Ministry of Finance raised its forecast for the budget deficit for 2025 to 1.7% of GDP from 0.5%, which had been expected earlier.

According to the forecast, revenue from oil and gas was reduced by 24% to 8.32 trillion rubles (101.47 billion dollars). Moreover, the spending plan for the current year was increased by 830 billion rubles.