Russia's revenues from oil and gas will be US$39.5 billion (3 trillion rubles) lower than planned, due to the tumbling oil prices, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Wednesday, adding that Russia's budget will be in deficit this year.

The coronavirus pandemic and the lower economic activity, coupled with oil prices half the level before Russia and Saudi Arabia broke up the OPEC+ production cut deal two weeks ago, will weigh on Russia's budget this year, which will tip into deficit.

Russia's economy is not going as well as one would have hoped, the finance minister admitted today, saying that the oil price factor alone is set to reduce the country's budget income by nearly US$39.5 billion compared to earlier estimates.

In case of budget deficit, Russia will use reserves from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) [It's nice to have reserves.], Siluanov said on Wednesday.

According to analysts at Gazprombank, cited by Reuters, the fund has enough reserves to compensate for lower budget revenues due to low oil prices for more than five years.