Russia Central Bank Predicts $40 Crude

Elvira Nabiullina, the head of Russia’s central bank, said on Friday she believed that oil prices could fall as low as $40 per barrel next year from their current levels of above $50. “We still assume that the oil price will draw back to roughly $40 a barrel in 2018-19. We do not expect it to considerably affect economic growth given that the economy has already largely adjusted to low oil prices,” Nabiullina was quoted as saying by Reuters. "Although the pace of economic recovery has somewhat exceeded the Bank of Russia’s expectations, medium-term inflation risks remain in place." Nabiullina added that in the medium-term, the external economic situation will likely remain unstable, as confirmed by the volatility of oil prices. Russia has adapted to the lower-for-longer oil prices and this year Russia’s budget is reaching its highest level of resistance to oil price swings in the past nine years, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in parliament.