Russia is scraping the bottom. And Putin's man wants to tighten the screws even more
To save the economy from a new global crisis, Deripaska proposed that Russians switch to a work schedule from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and work on Saturdays.
– We don't have many resources. More precisely, we only have one, and it is related to our national characteristic: in difficult times we are able to pull ourselves together and work harder. And the sooner we switch to this new schedule ourselves – from 8 to 20, including Saturday – the faster we will undergo this transformation – he emphasizes.
In his opinion, this approach will accelerate the adaptation of the economy to new conditions, because since this year the world has become different for all other countries. “This is no longer an economic crisis caused by restrictive monetary policy, bank rates and the futile strengthening of the ruble by macroeconomists from the Central Bank. And it is not only a consequence of the destruction by the security forces of legal institutions on which investments in the Russian economy – both domestic and foreign – were based, as if on a foundation. This crisis is deeper. It is caused by a difficult transformation,” writes Deripaska.
Previously, the billionaire had already proposed extraordinary measures to support the economy in the context of the conflict in the Middle East. In particular called for the weakening of the ruble to 105 (PLN 4.83 at the current exchange rate) per dollar and lowering the interest rate to 6%.to mitigate the effects of an external shock.
At that time, the businessman wrote that the war over Iran “would not bring anything good to Russia”, despite the increase in prices of oil, gas and fertilizers. According to his assessment, expensive energy raw materials will lead to a long-term slowdown in the world economy, which will inevitably also affect Russia.
Deripaska also claimed that the strengthening of the ruble below 80 (PLN 3.68) per dollar last year deprived the export industry of competitiveness. He referred to estimates according to which the losses of the federal budget caused by high interest rates and the strong ruble exceeded 16 trillion rubles (PLN 735 billion).
A series of precision attacks by Ukraine on Russia
Over the last 10 days, oil ports have been particularly hit, with export terminals on the Baltic Sea damaged. The strikes triggered the sharpest decline in Russia's oil exports since the beginning of the full-scale war — by as much as 43 percenti.e. from 4 million 72 thousand up to 2 million 318 thousand barrels per day. This is according to Bloomberg's calculations based on tanker transport data. During the week, 22 tankers left Russian seaports – 15 fewer than the week before.
Simultaneously exports through the Baltic Sea have fallen to their lowest levels since the invasion of Ukraine began: Only four tankers left Primorsk – the country's main oil port with a capacity of 1 million barrels per day (compared to 10 a week earlier), and only two from Ust-Luga.
In addition, the “Novatek” gas plant located in Ust-Luga was forced to suspend operations, as well as the “Kinef” refinery located in the Leningrad Oblast, owned by Surgutneftegaz – the second largest production volume in Russia. The plant stopped fuel production and it will only be possible to return to partial efficiency in a monthsources told Reuters.
Russian oil companies have warned customers that they may declare force majeure on oil deliveries from Baltic ports. However, according to data from Bloomberg, for now they are selling oil from the reserves accumulated in tankers: during the week, these volumes decreased by 13 million barrels, to 118 million.
In monetary terms During the week of “paralysis” of Baltic ports, oil companies lost $1 billion. (PLN 3.7 billion) — this is how much export revenues decreased, despite the continued price increase. The average price of a barrel of Russian Urals oil, according to Bloomberg calculations, increased by $11.3. (PLN 41.81), up to USD 73.24 (approx. PLN 271) per barrel. At the same time, export revenues dropped to USD 1.44 billion. (PLN 5.3 billion) from USD 2.45 billion (over PLN 9 billion) a week earlier.
