Main Political and Economic Events of February 2016

In February 2016, the RF Government actively discussed its anti-crisis plan and reached a consensus to the effect that the automotive and housing construction industries, as well as non-raw material exports and agriculture, should be subsidized from the budget. At the same time, the Government failed to strike a balance between its good intentions and budget revenue. To further complicate matters, the anti-crisis plan omitted the issue of the debt of Vnesheconombank, whose head Vladimir Dmitriev resigned in mid-February. It should also be noted that in January and February 2016, oil prices were twice lower than those envisaged in the budget. As a result, the Government came to the decision that in April 2016 the budget should be considerably revised. As a matter of fact, the Government did not discuss any specific cuts in budget expenditure, while its privatization plans were encumbered by a number of conditions that could hardly attract many bidders. In a separate development, in Syria, where Russia had become engaged in an aerial campaign against the Islamic State terrorist organization, the government of Bashar al-Assad and some of the armed opposition groups announced that they had reached a truce deal. However, neither a political nor a military solution to the Syrian crisis appears to be in the offing