Oil Rally Gives Russia an Excuse to Delay Crucial Budget Reform

Russia was all set to tighten the screws on its own oil dependence, but the oil price spike is causing it to rethink its plan. Moscow has hit pause on planned changes to its budget rule, the mechanism designed to shield state finances from violent oil price swings. The idea was to lower the oil price threshold that determines when the National Wellbeing Fund gets tapped, forcing the government to rely less on energy windfalls. That now looks less urgent with oil doing the heavy lifting. As of March 24, the market is doing Russia a favor.…