“The budget deficit of Russia began to increase.”

The budget deficit of the Russian Federation increased to 4.2 trillion rubles after two months of surplus.

The Russian budget ended in deficit by October, reaching 403 billion rubles, causing the total deficit since the beginning of the year to grow to 4.19 trillion rubles, or 1.9% of GDP.

After two months of surplus of 0.4 trillion rubles in September and 0.7 trillion rubles in August, the Russian budget became deficit again. In October, expenditures of the Russian Ministry of Finance amounted to 3.4 trillion rubles against revenues of 3 trillion rubles, leading to a deficit of 403 billion rubles.

This is a result of a 21.4% decline in oil and gas revenues to 7.5 trillion rubles, even despite an increase in non-oil and gas revenues, which are also showing a relative slowdown in growth rate. The annual growth rate of their revenues slowed from 13.2% over nine months to 11.3% for January-October.

Budget expenditures for the first ten months of this year increased by 15.4% compared to the same period last year and reached 34.11 trillion rubles. The Ministry of Finance explains this by the advance payment of state contracts at the beginning of the year and states that the increase in expenses at the end of the year will be limited.

It is expected that by the end of the year, budget expenditures will amount to 42.8 trillion rubles, of which 8.7 trillion the government must spend within the last two months. This is about 20% of the annual plan.

The economic situation in Russia remains tense. The Central Bank of Russia warns of a possible economic contraction for two consecutive years, the first since the 1990s. Inflation may reach a 10-year high, causing a reduction in consumer spending and a decrease in business investment.