Finance minister puts Russia’s 2022 budget deficit at 1.6 tln rbl

MOSCOW/ST. PETERSBURG, Apr 27 (PRIME) -- Russia’s budget deficit will reach at least 1.6 trillion rubles this year after President Vladimir Putin allowed companies to delay their social insurance payments, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Wednesday.

“We have a delay, it amounts to 1.6 trillion rubles. This is the sum of our spending outstripping our revenues, and it may be bigger … The final budget deficit will depend on the government anti-crisis measures and on other measures that will be necessary to support the economy. I hope that we already approved the majority of them,” he said.

The ministry plans no new external or internal borrowing in 2022, but will try to offer OFZ federal bonds in 2023 when inflation and the cost of borrowing stabilize, he said.

The ministry is also working on new budget rules that would limit spending of the National Wealth Fund so that the government does not deplete the fund completely.

“A new budget cycle should start now, and we will suggest preparations of the (2023–2025) budget in accordance with the amended rules. It is important for us that there the rules exist and that our liabilities meet our capabilities,” Siluanov said.

The National Wealth Fund will remain one of the main sources of budget financing for some time, but the government should avoid complete depletion of the fund. The ministry wants to link the new budget rule not to a cut-off oil price like before, but to a fixed sum, which may be based at the average annual data for the past three years. Still, the ministry has no plans to replenish the fund any time soon, he said.

In 2022, the government will use the fund to inject 50 billion rubles into Gazprombank and national flagship carrier Aeroflot, state railway monopoly Russian Railways, and national housing development institution DOM.RF, he said.

The ministry may also start buying diamonds from diamond mining giant ALROSA for the Gokhran state precious metals and gems repository in 2022, he said, adding that the possible purchase volumes will be disclosed later.

(72.7089 rubles – U.S. $1)

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