City Moscow Financial News

IEA) on Thursday lowered its forecast for growth in oil demand in 2024, suggesting harsher global economic conditions and progress on energy efficiency will weigh on consumption. In its monthly report, the IEA forecast demand for oil will rise by 880,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, down from its previous forecast of 1 million bpd, based on broader economic concerns and a faster adoption of electric vehicles among other energy efficiency measures. However, the Paris-based agency that advises the United States and other industrialised countries, raised its 2023 demand forecast to 2.3 million bpd, from a previous estimate of 2.2 million. OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, began limiting supplies in 2022 to support prices. In September, global benchmark Brent hit 10-month highs after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their combined 1.3 million bpd cuts until the end of the year. «If extra cuts are unwound in January, the balance could shift to surplus, which would go some way to help replenish depleted inventories,» the agency said. Although Russia pledged to cut crude exports until the end of 2023, according to the IEA's estimates Moscow's total exports of crude oil and products in September rose by 460,000 bpd to 7.6 million bpd, with crude accounting for 250,000 bpd of the increase. The jump in exports highlights the difficulty the West has faced in trying to reduce Russian exports and revenue to Moscow amid its war with Ukraine. Last year, the IEA predicted harsh Western sanctions would lead to a collapse in Russian energy exports. ECONOMIC HEADWINDS, GEOPOLITICAL RISK Oil prices fell sharply last week as a darkening economic outlook intensified fears of slower growth in demand, eclipsing supply concerns.

IEA) on Thursday lowered its forecast for growth in oil demand in 2024, suggesting harsher global economic conditions and progress on energy efficiency will weigh on consumption. In its monthly report, the IEA forecast demand for oil will rise by 880,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, down from its previous forecast of 1 million bpd, based on broader economic concerns and a faster adoption of electric vehicles among other energy efficiency measures. However, the Paris-based agency that advises the United States and other industrialised countries, raised its 2023 demand forecast to 2.3 million bpd, from a previous estimate of 2.2 million. OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, began limiting supplies in 2022 to support prices. In September, global benchmark Brent hit 10-month highs after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their combined 1.3 million bpd cuts until the end of the year. «If extra cuts are unwound in January, the balance could shift to surplus, which would go some way to help replenish depleted inventories,» the agency said. Although Russia pledged to cut crude exports until the end of 2023, according to the IEA's estimates Moscow's total exports of crude oil and products in September rose by 460,000 bpd to 7.6 million bpd, with crude accounting for 250,000 bpd of the increase. The jump in exports highlights the difficulty the West has faced in trying to reduce Russian exports and revenue to Moscow amid its war with Ukraine. Last year, the IEA predicted harsh Western sanctions would lead to a collapse in Russian energy exports. ECONOMIC HEADWINDS, GEOPOLITICAL RISK Oil prices fell sharply last week as a darkening economic outlook intensified fears of slower growth in demand, eclipsing supply concerns.

Russia’s Central Bank thinks its digital ruble could let citizens pay abroad without making use of the SWIFT banking platform – and wants to let foreign banks use its CBDC.

Also Read: Oil snaps Israel-Hamas conflict-induced rally, slides over $1 on demand concerns; Brent eases to $86/bbl Novak said he and Prince Abdulaziz discussed the oil market and cooperation within the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+). "Of course, (cooperation within OPEC+) was (considered) at our internal meeting, one of the most important topics that we discussed today," Novak said, according to Interfax news agency.

By Robert Harvey

Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday asked NATO allies for more weapons and air defences to tide his country through another wartime winter as it braces for a barrage of Russian attacks on power stations and other infrastructure. Zelenskiy made his first visit to NATO headquarters since Russia's invasion last year, at a time when turbulence in the U.S.

Russian oil at the widest premium above a G-7 imposed cap since the curb was introduced, highlighting the market’s importance to Moscow and a gap that may intensify scrutiny of the controversial mechanism. Crude processors in the key importer paid an average of $86 a barrel for Russian shipments in August, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. That’s the biggest spread in dollar terms since the $60-a-barrel limit came into force after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in the first quarter of 2022. Oil rallied in the third quarter as OPEC+ leaders Russia and Saudi Arabia choked off some supply to tighten the market.

We don’t support this browser anymore. This means our website may not look and work as you would expect. Read more about browsers and how to update them here.

More Russian banks will join the digital ruble pilot, with Center-invest Bank, which mainly operates in the nation’s south, set to trial the CBDC next year.

Vladimir Putin will visit Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, the presidential office of the Central Asian country said, in what would be the Russian leader's first known trip abroad since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest. Putin has rarely travelled abroad since the start of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 and is not known to have left Russia since the ICC issued in March a warrant for him on suspicion of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin denies those allegations. «At the invitation of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Sadyr Japarov, on October 12 of this year, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, will make an official visit to the country,» the Kyrgyz presidential administration said in a statement on its website. Putin agreed in May during talks with Japarov to visit Kyrgyzstan, but there has been no official confirmation yet from the Kremlin that the Russian president will travel there on Thursday. The Russian leader is also due to travel to China next week for the third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.

Reuters reported. Peskov also cautioned that the conflict had the potential to spread to neighbouring regions. Also Read:Israel-Hamas War LIVE Updates: Palestinians struggle for safety as Israel pounds sealed-off Gaza Strip During talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, Putin took the chance to link the considerable increase in violence to the United States' long-standing policy in the region.

Russia was defeated in its bid to regain a seat in the United Nations premiere human rights body by a significant majority in Tuesday's election in the General Assembly, which voted last year to suspend Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. Russia competed against Albania and Bulgaria for two seats on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council representing the East European regional group. In the secret ballot vote, Bulgaria got 160 votes, Albania got 123 votes and Russia just 83 votes.

Russia's economy will grow by 1.1% in 2024, slower than previously forecast, the International Monetary Fund said, after significant spending and resilient consumption in a stretched labour market support growth of 2.2% this year. Moscow plans to allocate almost a third of increased budget spending next year to defence as it diverts more resources towards its invasion of Ukraine. Reuters reported exclusively in August that Russia had doubled its 2023 defence spending target. «The rise in growth reflects a substantial fiscal stimulus, strong investment, and resilient consumption in the context of a tight labour market,» the IMF said on Tuesday in its World Economic Outlook, in reference to this year's forecast. Russia's economy ministry expects gross domestic product (GDP) to expand 2.8% this year, bouncing back from a 2.1% decline in 2022.

United Nations: Russia faces a tough fight to regain a seat in the U.N.'s premiere human rights body in Tuesday's election in the General Assembly, which voted last year to suspend Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. The 193-member assembly will be electing 15 members to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, with candidates put forward by the U.N.'s five regional groups.

Hopes that oil supply might ease a bit next year, and inflationary pressures with it, are fading after Saturday’s shock attack on Israel. On Monday, Brent crude futures rose about 4% to $88 a barrel as traders sized up the potential impact on global supply of a new war in the Middle East. Neither Israel or Palestine are major oil producers, so there isn’t an immediate effect.

By Alexander Marrow

By Natalie Grover

Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing the country’s economy for a long war in Ukraine. Military spending and war-related expenditures have already fueled much of Russia’s economic growth this year, helping the country weather the impact of Western sanctions. Next year, the government plans to increase military spending even more.

Finnish airline Finnair said on Friday it planned to raise up to 600 million euros ($632 million) in a rights issue to shore up its finances and allow it to resume dividend payments from 2025.

Russia’s government said on Friday it had lifted a ban on pipeline diesel exports via ports, removing the bulk of restrictions installed on Sept. 21.

KYIV (Reuters) -Russia launched new drone and missile strike on Ukraine early on Friday, killing a 10-year-old boy in the northeastern city of Kharkiv and damaging grain and port infrastructure in the Odesa region in the south, Ukrainian officials said.