Russia has no plans to raise taxes to 2018 - finance minister

The Russian Federation will not raise taxes to 2018, nor will it lower the pre-planned budget expenses, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday.
“The government is not going in any case to lower the pre-planned budget expenses during the current three-year period,” he said.
“Nor shall we raise taxes to 2018,” he added.
Russia’s Finance Ministry hopes the key rate will return to 5.5%, if the market conditions are not getting worse, Minister said.
“If there are no major changes, we shall hope the Central Bank returns the key rate to the original position,” he stressed.