Minister: In 2019-2020, Russia’s budget will become as stable as it used to be before the 2008 financial crisis

In 2019-2020, Russia’s budget will become as stable as it used to be before the 2008 financial crisis, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at a forum on Tuesday.

Finance Minister added that the government is interested in a higher independence of the budget from oil prices and other external factors.

“One can see in a three-year plan for 2018-2020 that budget’s dependence on gas and oil (prices) is to decline considerably. We are returning to a budget situation before the 2008 crisis that was stable enough with a non-hydrocarbon deficit of 5-6% of GDP… The figures are to be achieved in 2019-2020,” he said.