Finance minister sees no risks for budget obligations in 2023

MOSCOW, Jul 12 (PRIME) – There are no risks of Russia’s budget failing to fulfill its obligations in 2023, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Wednesday.

“Regarding this year, we will achieve our planned goals, and we have no serious risks of failing to fulfill our obligations. We will comply with all priority obligations and we will find the money to solve new tasks we have to solve,” he said, adding that the ministry has no worries about any basic budget decisions.

“As for the next three-year period, our colleagues from the government and we are working on the task of mobilizing resources. We will need money, but the budgeting process is going on as usual,” he said.

The current oil prices allow the authorities to expect the budget’s energy revenue to reach the baseline expected figure.

Siluanov also said that the budget deficit in 2023 might either overshoot the expected level or be below it.

According to the Finance Ministry’s preliminary estimate, the deficit amounted to 2.595 trillion rubles in January–June with revenue reaching 12.381 trillion rubles and spending 14.976 trillion rubles. In 2023, revenue should reach 26.12 trillion rubles and spending is expected to amount to 29.056 trillion rubles resulting in a deficit of 2.925 trillion rubles or about 2% of gross domestic product.

(90.5045 rubles – U.S. $1)

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