Fiscal rule paused until summer, issue of resuming operations on market will be decided depending on prices - Russian finance minister
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax) - The Russian Finance Ministry will return to the issue of resuming operations on the foreign exchange market within the framework of the fiscal rule, suspended in March amid plans to revise the cut-off price, based on the situation on the global energy market, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
There will therefore be no operations in the remaining two spring months.
"We have now suspended the fiscal rule until summer. We will return to this issue based on the emerging situation with energy prices," Siluanov told journalists on the sidelines of the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).
According to the traditional publication schedule of the Finance Ministry, the department would announce planned foreign exchange operations for the upcoming period at the end of next week, on April 3.
In 2025, a decision was made to gradually reduce the cut-off price in the fiscal rule in steps of $1 per year from $60 to $55 per barrel by 2030. At the end of February, Siluanov said that the government was considering tightening the fiscal rule in terms of lowering the base price against the backdrop of a shortfall in oil and gas revenues. This concerns changes that could take effect from 2027, Deputy Finance Minister Vladimir Kolychev later said.
BUDGET EXECUTION
The budget for 2026 is based on a projected deficit of 1.6% of GDP. In the first two months, before oil prices soared due to the Iranian conflict, it stood at 1.5% of GDP, which raised doubts about the feasibility of the forecast.
"Our forecast was perhaps somewhat optimistic at the beginning of the year, so if the price situation continues as it is now, we will be able to meet those parameters that were initially laid down in the budget. And if the situation is more favorable, accordingly, we will replenish our stocks and reserves through oil and gas revenues," Siluanov said.
According to Siluanov, redistributing expenditures during budget execution is standard practice, and calling it a "sequester" is incorrect.
"We never talked about a sequester at all. The word 'sequester' is an inappropriate word; we are talking about budget consolidation," he said. "We are currently working on the budget, for example prioritization - increasing funds for the most important things, while for secondary, less important things, we are, on the contrary, postponing them until later or perhaps reducing them. This is ordinary work of prioritizing expenditures," he said.
