President Vladimir Putin on Monday called for the expansion of business freedom in Russia while curbing nepotism and corruption in the economy.

“We must expand economic freedoms and rid the economy of corruption, of the rule of nepotism of all sorts,” Putin said at a meeting with activists of The All-Russia People’s Front, a pro-Kremlin public movement.

Putin also stated that the fundamentals of the economy allow showing “cautious optimism” regarding the development of the situation in Russia.

“Fundamentals of the economy allow us to show cautious optimism. Our inflation rate has increased, and our budget deficit is less than expected, some 2.6 percent [of GDP], according to the Finance Ministry, instead of 3 [percent] with something.”

At the same time, Russia has a trade surplus, sufficiently large reserve funds and low public debt, Putin added.

The Russian president pledged to keep the inflation rate and the public debt low, without detriment to people’s living standards.

The Russian economy has been hit by the rapid decline in global oil prices, with both the WTI and Brent benchmark dropping below $30 a barrel.

The Russian ruble hit its lowest level since December 2014, trading at 80.16 rubles to the dollar late last week in the wake of falling oil prices.

Last week, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the budget should be balanced in accordance with the current oil prices, and the budget had not yet adapted itself to the slump.