MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. The Finance Ministry expects hydrocarbon production in Russia to increase in 2023, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview with RT.
"I would like to note that these bans (embargo on imports of Russian oil and oil products by Western countries - TASS) have led, first of all, to a situation where such energy commodities have become more expensive in the very same countries that imposed these sanctions. We’ve seen the emergence of new suppliers, who charge more due to new logistics. If you look at the volume of our hydrocarbon production over the past year, not only has it not declined, but it has grown. We hope that this trend will continue this year as well," Siluanov said.
Cut-off from international systems and low public debt
The minister stressed that even under the conditions of Western sanctions, Russia has managed to maintain financial stability thanks to a number of timely measures.
"We pursued a responsible budgetary policy. This includes both a budget regulation and a low debt level. At the beginning of this year, our debt amounted to 15.1% of GDP. This represents our advantage, which gives us the option to maneuver in terms of financial market transactions and the option of borrowing to finance future budget expenditures," Siluanov said.
He added that disconnecting Russia from such international systems as SWIFT, Mastercard and Visa has not affected the stability of domestic money transfers.
"We have our own system, created by the Central Bank of Russia, for the transmission of financial messages. Therefore, all such decisions to disconnect us from SWIFT, or from the Visa and Mastercard systems, have not had an impact on our internal transactions, on internal payments, at all," he said.