Russia plans to increase revenue of 1 trillion rubles from oil and gas

“We expect to collect an additional 1 trillion rubles (about 14.4 billion USD) from oil and gas sales, according to the forecast that we calculated with the Ministry of Economic Development.“, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in a speech on state television on May 27.

Mr. Siluanov said that the Russian government planned to spend this additional revenue this year.

Accordingly, the above money will be spent on retirees, families with young children and part of the special military operation in Ukraine.

After Russia sent troops into Ukraine, the West imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow.

The European Union alone has implemented five sanctions packages against Russia, including a coal ban that has been unanimously approved by 27 countries. The sanctions package also imposes a ban on exports of goods worth 10 billion euros to Russia and freezes the assets of some Russian banks.

The bloc is discussing a sixth round of sanctions to impose on Russia but has not been able to reach a consensus because Hungary strongly opposes Moscow’s proposal to ban oil.

On May 23, speaking during a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed that the country’s economy had effectively resisted Western sanctions.

“I want to emphasize that, despite all the difficulties, the Russian economy is withstanding the sanctions with pride. All the major macroeconomic indicators speak for themselves.”the Russian leader affirmed.

Previously, Mr. Siluanov affirmed that although overcoming Western sanctions is not easy, with the right fiscal and budgetary policies, Moscow has overcome the first economic shock and maintained stability. of the financial system.

“We believe that the first shock has passed, although the West is preparing to launch new sanctions packages.”Mr. Siluanov said.

The Russian minister expressed confidence that Moscow’s sound fiscal and monetary policies will allow Russia to continue to deal with whatever sanctions it faces.

Mr. Siluanov also denied that Russia was in danger of defaulting on its debt.

“We will not default, we have money, unless Western countries find a way to prevent us from paying our debt. We can pay off our foreign debts in rubles in case of reluctance, if Western financial institutions close with us.” he affirmed.