Russia is unlikely to see any real economic growth or decrease in poverty in 2020 if the current conditions under the coronavirus-related market turbulence persist, head of Russia's Accounts Chamber Alexey Kudrin said Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th March, 2020) Russia is unlikely to see any real economic growth or decrease in poverty in 2020 if the current conditions under the coronavirus-related market turbulence persist, head of Russia's Accounts Chamber Alexey Kudrin said Thursday.
"If we take into account today's rates, with the [oil] price around $35 [per barrel] and the ruble's exchange rate at 72 rubles per Dollar, then we will not receive three trillion rubles [$39.9 billion] worth of oil revenue," Kudrin told an economic committee at Russia's upper house of parliament, explaining that this means the budget deficit this year would be around two percent of the GDP.
This way, Kudrin concluded that "the pace of economic growth will be close to zero."
"We wanted to see ... poverty decrease, but, taking into consideration the challenges that I have mentioned, any significant improvement is unlikely. On the contrary, there is a risk, unfortunately, that we will not face poverty decrease but poverty increase instead," Kudrin went on to say.
The top economist told lawmakers that economic forecasts set out for 2020 have become obsolete.
According to Kudrin, an average price of oil in 2020 could amount to $40 per barrel or slightly higher.
"Taking into account what the Energy Ministry said, I think that the price will be somewhere between $40 and a little higher," Kudrin said.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 situation a global pandemic. To date, Russia has confirmed 28 total cases on its soil. On a global scale, over 127,000 people have contracted the disease and 4,700 people have died.
