The main events by the morning: May 29

• The Indian company Reliance has signed a contract with Rosneft for oil supplies for a period of 1 year. The settlement currency for transactions will be the Russian ruble. The volume of supplies is estimated at about 3 million barrels of oil per month. Previously, there was one problem in oil trade with India – rupees. The Indian currency remained a dead weight in the Russian economy, as it is illiquid on the world market. 

• The Russian budget will receive an additional 2.6 trillion rubles due to tax reforms. The Ministry of Finance, in its financial and economic justification for the tax bill, estimated that this amount amounts to 7.7% of federal budget revenues for 2025. The biggest contribution to it will be an increase in income tax to 25%, which will bring 1.6 trillion rubles.

• The Price Index Center has compiled the first Russian price index for exported raw materials from the country. During the year, the cost of raw materials exported by Russia increased by almost a quarter. In June 2023, the raw material price index was 50% lower than in February 2022, and by the end of April 2024 it reached 68.6 points, which corresponds to the average value of Russian exports of $425 per ton.

• Europe will decide on the embargo of Russian LNG only in 2025. HSE analysts believe that European countries will not be able to abandon Russian liquefied natural gas until the end of the next heating season. Russia still carries out 13% of LNG supplies to the European market. It has not yet been possible to replace Russian gas.

• Trade between Russia and China is reaching a new level: cryptocurrency helps to circumvent sanctions. At least two large metallurgical enterprises in Russia have decided to accept the Tether stablecoin as payment for their supplies. Such operations make it possible to completely circumvent the control exercised by the US Treasury Department, and so far exclude the possibility of imposing secondary sanctions against Chinese buyers.