Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is looking to further consolidate financial ties with Russia as he attempts to stabilize his country’s troubled economy ahead of next year’s elections, Bloomberg reported, citing several Turkish officials.

Officials noted that Erdogan’s goals include lowering prices and paying for energy imports in lira. Turkey’s natural gas spending will top $50 billion this year, the report says, with Russia as its biggest energy supplier.

Some of the money from Russia is already flowing to Turkey, where Rosatom transferred about $5 billion in July to a subsidiary that is building a nuclear power plant in Turkey. According to the report, this transfer increased Turkey’s official reserves. Turkey is expected to run a $47 billion current account deficit by the end of this year, and the lira’s weak performance is making debt coverage more expensive. Rising global energy prices have added an additional burden.