Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Russia may sell “considerably” less debt than the $18 billion it previously announced, given the current price of oil, Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin said.

The final figure will “depend on the amount of revenue and the situation with the world economy next year,” Pankin said in a telephone interview in Moscow today. “The draft budget for next year includes a limit on foreign borrowing, which is $18 billion. That doesn’t mean we will look to borrow $18 billion.”

The government is planning its first international debt sale since the 1998 default to help plug the country’s first budget gap in a decade. The deficit will reach between 7.5 percent and 7.7 percent this year, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Oct. 21. The government plans to narrow next year’s shortfall to 6.8 percent.

Prices for crude oil, Russia’s chief export, have risen 78 percent this year.

Pankin said the government aimed to complete “technical” preparations for the debt sale by March though it hadn’t yet chosen managers for the sale.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelsky@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 3, 2009 13:52 EST