Ministry: Russia’s budget deficit at 2.8% of GDP in Jan–July

MOSCOW, Aug 13 (PRIME) -- Russia’s federal budget deficit amounted to 1.122 trillion rubles, or 2.8% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), in January–July, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The federal budget revenue stood at 7.794 trillion rubles in the period, or 62.2% of the planned amount for the year, including 3.505 trillion rubles of oil and gas revenues. Spending amounted to 8.916 trillion rubles.

The Federal Tax Service contributed 4.2 trillion rubles to the budget in the period, or 66.8% of the forecasted amount for the year; the Federal Customs Service contributed 2.7 trillion rubles, or 56.2% of the annual forecast.

In July, the deficit of Russia’s federal budget amounted to 324.06 billion rubles, or 5.2% of GDP, with revenues standing at 1.174 trillion rubles and spending amounting to 1.498 trillion rubles.

The state official forecast for the federal budget deficit stands at 3.7% of GDP in 2015. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said earlier the figure may be about 3.4% of GDP, while Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said it may amount to 2.5% of GDP.

(65.0169 rubles – U.S. $1)

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