Plummeting oil prices and Western sanctions have cost Russia $140bn, its finance minister says
Plummeting oil prices and Western sanctions have caused as much as $140bn to flood out of Russia this year, finance minister Anton Siluanov said today.
While sanctions against its businesses are hurting the country's economy, falling oil prices are having the biggest impact. Oil and gas makes up the majority of Russian exports – 68 per cent, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
At the start of this month, crude oil fell to its lowest level in four years, around $82 dollars a barrel, after Saudi Arabia unexpectedly cut its contract price for US customers.
According to the Moscow Times, Siluanov told a news conference:
We're losing around $40bn a year because of geopolitical sanctions, and about $90bn to $100bn from oil prices falling by 30 per cent.
The main issue that affects the budget and economy: this is the price of oil and the fall in monetary flows from the sale of energy resources.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashed its economic growth forecast to 0.5 per cent from 1 per cent. It cited the "big direct impact" of geopolitical uncertainties on the Russian economy.