Russia to Provide $40B State Help to Rosneft, Says PM Medvedev

Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev committed to help Rosneft. As a result, the company led by Igor Sechin could receive 1.5 trillion roubles ($40.6 billion) to finance its debt. 

“This figure only looks imposing, but everything doesn’t have to be done in one year. I recently held a meeting on Rosneft’s investment programme: the company needs to maintain its production levels, because Rosneft is a major source of tax revenue. As such, we should help it maintain its level of investment,” Medvedev said in an interview to the Vedemosti newspaper, as reported on the PM’s website.

Medvedev said that the economy is suffering as a result of external shocks and structural imbalances.

“We had planned for much higher growth, but we believe that this year the economy will grow by half a percent, or perhaps slightly more. Next year, it will grow by about 1 percent. That’s too low, but economic conditions are difficult around the world,” Medvedev said adding that the sanctions are likely to contribute to this mediocre performance. 

According to Russia’s PM, sanctions are “always a stupid idea” and could have significant consequences on Western economies.