MOSCOW: Russia's government is readying fresh spending cuts of up to 10 percent as the authorities struggle to cope with tumbling oil prices, business daily Vedomosti reported on Tuesday.
A fresh slump in oil prices -- which represents around a half of Russia's budget revenues -- has further rocked the country's crisis-hit economy, battering the stock markets and pushing the ruble to its lowest point since December 2014.
Russia's budget for 2016 has been based on oil being worth $50 a barrel but with the price now dropping to around $30, officials are scrambling to find savings to stop the deficit from passing the three percent budget deficit planned for 2016.
Ministers have now been given until Friday to come up with savings of 10 percent, two high-ranking official sources told Vedomosti, or face the finance ministry stepping in to make the cuts.
Russia's economy has slumped into recession on the back of falling oil prices and the impact of Western sanctions over Ukraine and the government has struggled to cut spending over the past year.
The latest plan will not impact on social spending, wages for state workers and salaries for security officials, the sources told Vedomosti, with the authorities treading a fine line as they try to ward off any potential public discontent ahead of parliamentary elections in September 2016.
Russia's dollar-denominated RTS index fell again on Tuesday by some 1.3 percent by 0900 GMT after plunging by 5 percent on Monday.
The ruble dropped below 77 to the dollar and to around 83.5 against the euro on Tuesday as it trawled along at its lowest level since the major currency slump last December.
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