UPDATE: Russia’s federal budget deficit at 7.4% of GDP in Jan-Feb

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MOSCOW, Mar 12 (PRIME) -- Russia’s federal budget posted a 7.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) deficit, or 765.154 billion rubles in January–February, according to preliminary data of the Finance Ministry released on Thursday.

Budget’s revenue stood at 2.278 trillion rubles in the period, or 15.1% of annual revenue forecast. Spending amounted to 3.043 trillion rubles, or 19.6% of annual spending.

The Federal Tax Service transferred 1.001 trillion rubles to the budget in the period, or 12.4% of the annual forecasted amount for 2015, while the Federal Customs Service allocated 840.259 billion rubles, or 14.7% of the annual figure.

The Federal State Property Management Agency transferred 2.033 billion rubles, or 0.8% of the forecast, while other federal authorities transferred 435.115 billion rubles, or 41.7% of the forecast.

The amended budget puts deficit at 3.8% of GDP for 2015, or 2.76 trillion rubles. On Thursday, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the amendments will be submitted to the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, in the week starting from March 16.

The 2013 federal budget deficit amounted to 310.52 billion rubles, or 0.5% of the gross domestic product.

(62.6797 rubles – U.S. $1)

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