Page 60 - RusRPTSept19
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6.1.2 Budget dynamics - specific issues...
Russia’s gross international reserves (GIR) have overtaken those of Saudi Arabia to make Russian reserves the fourth largest in the world. Russian reserves are now over $530bn and will rise to $591bn by 2021 according to Fitch. Saudi Arabia’s reserves have fallen to $527bn as of the end of June and will continue to fall. Russia needs oil prices to be $40 for the budget to break even (they were $58 at the time of writing) whereas Saudi needs prices over $80 to make money. Oil and gas has fallen in importance to the Russian budget and currently make up less than 25% of its income as other products, like grain exports, play an increasingly important role. At the same time a revolution in Russia’s tax system has vastly improved collection from domestic sources of revenue, also demoting the importance oil.
60 RUSSIA Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com
