The military actions in Afghanistan will not lead to a collapse of the world economy and sharp fluctuations in the dollar rate. This opinion was expressed by the Deputy head of the Yabloko faction in the State Duma Sergei Ivanenko in an interview with journalists on Monday, October 8, 2001.

He also noted that the beginning of the operation was “expected by everyone”, but there was no clear idea as to when the operation would actually end .

Ivanenko does not forecast any serious fluctuations in world oil prices, although in Ivanenko’s opinion military actions, as a rule, lead to an increase in the prices for raw materials.

For Russia’s budget, says Ivanenko, the military actions in Afghanistan present no threat at all. On the contrary, Ivanenko thinks that as the Russian budget “is mainly dependent on raw material prices”, there will be no problems for Russia’s budget.

At the same time, Ivanenko said that the USA may put pressure on the OPEC countries, and thus oil prices may fall. However, Ivanenko thinks that they are unlikely to drop below USD 18-20 per barrel. But even in this case, stressed Ivanenko, the Russian budget has enough reserves for next year.

Regarding the dollar rate, Ivanenko noted that in his opinion “fluctuations in the dollar rate will take place, but are unlikely to surpass the border of the normal corridor that has developed over recent years”.

Ivanenko also thinks that different events and military actions in Afghanistan have influenced and will influence the dollar rate, but will not be the key factor here.

Ivanenko also reported that the Yabloko faction had introduced amendments to the budget for 2002 for the second reading dealing with allocation of the total amount of funds required to reinforce the borders.

According to Ivanenko, next year it will be necessary to allot 15 bln roubles to reinforce Russia’s borders with Kazakhstan, 3 bln roubles for the borders with the Caucasus, 3.3 bln roubles for enhanced security at nuclear objects and 1.5 bln roubles for safety measures in air transport.

The Deputy Head of the Yabloko faction also stressed that the Russian government had already agreed to an increase in the revenue part of the budget for the next year. Consequently the Yabloko faction will insist on priority attention to security measures in the draft budget for 2002.

Based on Interfax reports.

See also:

Acts of Terror in the US

Budget for 2002