Additional Economic Measures Against Russia 'On The Way', Western Allies Say

Washington D.C./22.02.23/Turan:     A top U.S. Treasury official on Tuesday announced that Russia has suffered a budget deficit of $47 billion last year, due in part to coordinated global sanctions, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports..

“Put simply, we are making the Kremlin’s choice—between funding its illegitimate war and propping up its economy—harder each day,” Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in Washington.

“This has been the second highest deficit Russia has experienced in the post-Soviet era," he added." The best educated, most productive Russian citizens have left, which will dramatically reduce the economic capacity of the country.”

The speech came just hours after the foreign ministers of G-7 member countries pledged additional sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine. “We will impose further economic costs on Russia, and on individuals and entities – inside and outside of Russia – that provide political or economic support to these violations of international law,” the group wrote in a statement. The ministers did not elaborate on the upcoming economic measures.

According to Adeyemo, a coalition price cap on oil has dropped Russia’s monthly budget revenues to their lowest level since 2020, about 46% below where they were a year ago. “The Russian Finance Ministry has been forced to nearly triple its daily foreign currency sales to make up for the shortfall,” he said.

“Industrial production has declined in Russia for 9 straight months and we are planning to take additional steps to further decimate the Kremlin’s industrial base,” Adeyemo concluded.

Alex Raufoglu