The Ministry of Finance cheated by scaring the country with a “fall” in oil revenues - Simonov
The dramatic statements of the Russian Ministry of Finance in March about a 46% drop in oil and gas revenues are due to the fact that it wants to increase taxation of oil companies and do not correspond to the real situation.
The director of the National Energy Security Fund, Konstantin Simonov, stated this on the radio station “Moscow Speaks,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The Ministry of Finance actively talked about the fall in income: we are not making money, there is a budget deficit. Although in fact the mineral extraction tax on oil, condensate, and export duties on petroleum products for the first three months of 2023 are lower than in 2022 (it was unique in terms of prices), but higher than in 2021, 2020, and 2019. Now the state collects more money from oil workers than in previous years. There is no catastrophe with the failure of oil rent taxes,” Simonov noted.
He predicts that from April government revenues will increase not only due to increased taxes, but also due to the new system for calculating the price of oil (previously it was calculated by the British agency Argus on the basis of non-existent European supplies). In addition, the low exchange rate of the ruble, “decoupled” from the price of oil, is very beneficial for the budget.”
“In fact, we need to take current prices and multiply them by the ruble exchange rate. And then you will find that oil has become more expensive than 5 thousand rubles per barrel. In parrots, the boa constrictor is much longer. A cheap ruble can be squeezed into a barrel of oil. And it’s much easier to implement the budget with a cheap ruble,” Simonov said.
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