Report: Fin ministry still sees 2023 budget deficit at 2% of GDP

MOSCOW, Feb 17 (PRIME) -- The Finance Ministry has maintained its forecast for the 2023 budget deficit at 2% of gross domestic product (GDP), Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview to Rossiya 24 television channel broadcast on Friday.

“The most important thing is to look at the budget balance that we will have at the end of the year. Our plan is to have 2% of GDP at the end of the year, no one cancelled the plan, and we will adhere to these parameters,” he said.

The federal budget law stipulates that Russia’s budget deficit should amount to 2% of GDP in 2023, to 1.4% in 2024, and to 0.7% in 2025.

The ministry earlier in February quoted preliminary estimates as saying that deficit amounted to 1.76 trillion rubles in January, with spending rising by 59% on the year to 3.117 trillion rubles and revenue shrinking by 35% to 1.356 trillion rubles. Oil and gas revenue plunged by 46% to 426 billion rubles mainly because of lower prices for the Urals oil blend and lower exports of natural gas.

(74.7638 rubles – U.S. $1)

End