Putin says Russia must prepare for long low oil price period

MOSCOW, Dec 24 (PRIME) -- Russian authorities must be ready for a long period of low prices for the fuel exported from the country, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday at the last 2015 meeting with the government.

“We must be ready that the period of low prices for crude oil and our key exported goods, and possibly, the limits from outside can stay for a long time. We must achieve the results on the basis which we have on our own, the current difficulties must stimulate the economy and social sphere’s effectiveness,” Putin said.

The most important goal for the government is to push the country’s economy back to sustainable growth, Putin said. He said that the government’s anti-crisis plan had already supported the real sector and strengthened the trust in the banking system.

Well-balanced budgetary policies and the support of vulnerable branches of the industry must become another big target for 2016, he said.

Putin also urged officials to hold down the speculative price growth for consumer products and food with any tools acceptable in a market economy. “An unjustified, let’s say frankly, a speculative increase of price for products, goods and services results in a decline in people’s living standards today. We need to use all market instruments that we have to hold down the price growth, to extend the share of cheap but high-quality domestic goods. ”

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