OREANDA-NEWS. The drop in oil prices was a “very unpleasant surprise” for those who decided to withdraw from the deal with the OPEC cartel to reduce production, said Dmitry Marinchenko, director of the Fitch natural resources and commodities group, Russian media reported.

The analyst believes that Moscow "unlikely" counted on the fact that oil prices would fall "to almost $ 30". “This level cannot be exactly called comfortable for Russia - at a price of $ 30 Russia faces a budget deficit and devaluation, talk will begin about increasing the tax burden for oil companies”, he said.

Earlier it was reported that the accumulated funds of the National Wealth Fund (NWF) will be enough to cover the budget deficit from falling oil prices to $ 25-30 per barrel, according to materials published on the website of the Ministry of Finance of Russia.

According to the Ministry of Finance, as of March 1, 2020, the volume of liquid assets of the NWF and funds in the account for accounting for additional oil and gas revenues amounted to more than 10.1 trillion rubles or 9.2% of GDP. Thus, the funds will be enough to cover shortfalls in income from falling oil prices to this level for 6-10 years, authorities said.