By KYIV. Dec 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sanctions imposed against Russia are beginning to take effect, and next year Russia’s profits from oil and gas exports are expected to halve and fall below a critical level, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko has said.
"Since the beginning of the fourth quarter, we already see that there are clear signs of financial stress for the Russian economy," she said during the national telethon on Tuesday.
According to her, this is evidenced by the significant spending from the National Wealth Fund that began in October – $4-5 billion monthly, a special tax on Gazprom of $20 billion and unplanned attraction of funds in the domestic market.
Svyrydenko said that the expected fall of the Russian economy by only 4.5% this year is due to the time lag necessary for the emergence of a reaction to sanctions, as well as income from high prices that were this year for energy.
"For us, the most expected will be a collapse in profits from oil and gas exports. We believe that next year it can be 50% less – due to the EU embargo on crude oil and petroleum products and oil price caps. And we expect that Russia’s revenues will fall below the critical level of $40 billion per quarter, and as a result, Russia will face significant difficulties, which will make it difficult to carry out aggression against Ukraine," the First Deputy Prime Minister said.
She added that Ukraine insists and is working to ensure that the cap price of Russian oil is reduced from $60 to $35 per barrel.
