Russia’s government may have to review the approved three-year budget after the March 4 presidential elections, Russia’s ex-finance minister and the head of the VTB24 retail bank, Mikhail Zadornov, said.
“I think that the new government will have to review the approved three-year budget and cut the less efficient expenditures, along with highlighting the priorities that the new president and the new government will see as most important after the elections,” Zadornov said in a broadcast of the Ekho
Moskvy radio station."It’s evident that we won’t expect oil prices to grow further or stay at $110-115 per barrel for a long period of time, taking into account the present situation in Europe and the world. Therefore, we will have to keep our budget balanced under lower oil prices,” he said.The government will have to cut expenditures or seek additional sources of income, such as increasing taxes, he said.
"I wouldn’t recommend increasing taxes in the present situation, because at the moment we can see that budget expenditures are far from being spent efficiently in some cases,” Zadornov said.
