Russian pres aide says oil price volatility behind 1-yr budget idea

MOSCOW, Sep 2 (PRIME) -- The Russian government’s idea to draft the state budget for only one year for 2016 instead of a usual three-year period owes to the unpredictability of oil prices and not to a structural economic crisis, presidential aide Andrei Belousov told PRIME Wednesday.

“This is not due to the crisis. It is the oil prices, which are not balanced yet, that instill the unpredictability due to which the government will most probably submit a proposal to make a one-year budget as an exceptional case instead of a three-year one,” Belousov said.

The official said that this measure is unlikely to repeat with the 2017 budget because the oil price will become clear by then. “By now, we assume that the oil price will be at about U.S. $50,” he said.

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