On Thursday, oil prices plunged to a four-year low. And that has the potential to be very bad for Russia's economy. Russia is the world's largest energy exporter, and gets roughly half of its revenue from taxes on oil and natural gas.
Vladimir Putin seems to be taking the threat of slumping oil prices very seriously.
"We're considering all the scenarios, including the so-called catastrophic fall of prices for energy resources, which is entirely possible, and we admit it," Putin said in an interview with the state-run Tass news service before attending this weekend's Group of 20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, according to a transcript emailed by the Kremlin today. [Bloomberg]
Putin also offered assurances that Russia would be able to handle even a catastrophic slump because it has more than $400 billion in its reserves. Read more at Bloomberg.
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