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RUSSIAN Finance Minister Anton Siluanov called for massive spending cuts today in response to the plummeting price of oil.
If oil prices are $50 (£33) a barrel this year on average, it could see government revenues fall by nearly three trillion roubles (£30 billion), he said.
Mr Siluanov called for 10 per cent cuts to all departmental budgets except defence.
The decline in the oil price and Western sanctions imposed because of Russia’s hostility to the coup-imposed regime in Ukraine have caused the worst economic slump in the country since President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation has accused the government of running down the industrial and agricultural sectors of the economy, leaving the country dangerously reliant on energy exports.
“The number of workers in industry has dropped by over two million since 2000,” it pointed out, while deputy leader Valery Rashkin warned that budget cuts would be a “disaster” and would not solve the country’s problems.
