The Israel-Iran war is becoming a "lifeline" for the Russian budget, which this year faced a collapse in oil and gas revenues.
The ruble price of Russian oil Urals, on which every fourth ruble in the treasury depends, jumped by almost 15% in a few days of the conflict, writes The Moscow Times* citing BCS analysts. As of June 13, Urals was priced at 5000 rubles per barrel, although on June 10 it was sold for less than 4400 rubles — the lowest price in the last two years.
However, the cost of Urals still does not reach either the level initially expected by the government (6700 rubles per barrel) or the revised forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development, on which the budget was recalculated in May (5300 rubles per barrel), note BCS.
In the first quarter, the ruble price of Urals held at 5900 rubles. And this led to a 10% drop in oil and gas revenues of the budget for January-March. By May, according to the Ministry of Finance, the decline accelerated to 34%, and the amount collected from raw material companies — 512.7 billion rubles per month — became the lowest since January 2023.
* Recognized in Russia as a "foreign agent" and "undesirable" organization.