Page 24 - RusRPTOct23

international benchmarks to sell its oil. At one point, the Urals export grade was trading at more than a 50% discount to Dated Brent, a stark contrast to the pre-invasion era when discounts were typically less than 5%, based on quality differentials, according to Argus Media data.
Recently, however, the situation appears to be shifting in Moscow's favor, although it is still early days.
Two crude cargoes that loaded in Russia's Murmansk port last month are currently anchored off Tema in Ghana, and they have not sparked the same local backlash that greeted an initial shipment in February.
It remains uncertain what will happen to this Russian oil, but it's noteworthy that a new refinery built by the Sentuo Group as part of China's Belt and Road Development Strategy is seeking crude to commence processing, as reported by the Ghanaian Times.
Additionally, Moscow may have found a potentially larger market in Brazil, where Russia's Lukoil PJSC has dispatched three crude cargoes across the Atlantic to Madre de Deus, a terminal linked by a pipeline to Mubadala Investment Co.'s 300,000-barrel-a-day Mataripe refinery.
2.13 Russia’s approves first wartime budget with 1.7-fold increase in military spending
The Russian government has approved its first full wartime budget that will significantly increase military spending in 2024 as well as boost social spending to shelter the population from the effects of war and sanctions.
The draft budget for 2024 will increase military spending 1.7-fold and for the first time in the history of modern Russia will exceed social spending. The latter, however, will also increase, as will the costs of security forces and intelligence services, The Bell reported onSeptember 22.
To finance these huge expenses, the government will have to find somewhere an additional RUB7 trillion rubles in revenue compared to 2023. Firstly, this makes it inevitable that inflation will continue to accelerate and the Central Bank will maintain a high rate. And secondly, it almost inevitably means new taxes - and the authorities are already moving in this direction. So far the Ministry of Finance (MinFin) has done everything it can to avoid raising taxes other than hitting big business with a windfall tax on large enterprises that should bring in an extra RUB300bn ($4bn) of revenues. The draft federal budget for 2024–2026 must be submitted to the Duma before October 1. The government press service disclosed only the general parameters of the budget, without a breakdown of expenses, but Bloomberg was leaked figures for the most important items.
Military expenditures (item “National Defence”) in 2024 will amount to RUB10.8 trillion rubles -- 1.7 times more than Russia will actually spend on defence in
24 RUSSIA Country Report October 2023 www.intellinews.com