The Russian presidency (Kremlin) justified this Friday the restrictions on fuel exports as necessary given the increase in prices in the domestic market, but rejected the fear of a “social explosion” in Russia.
“There is no social explosion. Nothing,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov in response to a question from the French agency AFP, which he described as disproportionate.
Russia announced a ban on gasoline and diesel exports on Thursday to stabilize rising domestic prices and improve the country’s fuel supply.
The government decree states that the restrictions will be temporary, but does not indicate an end date.
According to the North American agency AP, the measure should cause an increase in fuel prices on the world market.
Russian diesel exports are estimated at around 900,000 barrels per day and the country has been exporting between 60,000 and 100,000 barrels of gasoline daily, according to the Russian state agency TASS.
Fuel prices in the domestic market fell by approximately 4% after the ban was announced, the state agency reported.
The ban does not apply to other countries in the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union trading bloc, namely Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
The Government announced today that it is developing new systemic measures in the fuel market, some of which are related to the tax system, to improve the situation.
“We understand that there is a problem in terms of prices. Soon it will not be so painful anymore,” said the director of the oil and gas department of the Russian Energy Ministry, Anton Rubtsov.
With the new measures, “the product [gasolina e gasóleo] It will be supplied, also to farmers, at reasonable prices and in sufficient volume,” he added, quoted by TASS.
Russia has been subject to heavy international sanctions since it invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, aimed at diminishing its ability to finance the war effort.
Since then, the country has suffered from rising inflation, a weakening of the ruble and a sharp decline in revenue from the sale of hydrocarbons, in addition to a brain drain and labor shortages in some sectors.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin admitted today that “external pressure continues to affect” the country’s economy.
Russia managed, however, to “mitigate many challenges,” said Mishustin, in the presentation of the draft budget for the 2024-2026 triennium, cited by the Spanish agency EFE.
In the document, the Government forecasts growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of around 2% annually over the next three years.
This year, the government expects GDP to grow by 2.8% after contracting by 2.1% in 2022, Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said.
In the first half of the year, growth was 1.6%, according to the preliminary estimate of the Rosstat statistics agency.
For the period 2024-2026, growth is estimated between 2.2 and 2.3% annually. Regarding the different budget lines, the Government did not reveal defense spending, which is secret, but the financial agency Bloomberg reported that it will increase to 6% of GDP in 2024, compared to 3.9% in 2023 and 2, 7% in 2021.
According to Western media, Russia will have increased its defense spending this year to more than 100 billion dollars (93.8 billion euros at the current exchange rate).
Source: TSF
