This is reported by the Russian publication The Moscow Times, citing data from the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. epravda.com.ua also mentions it. Reports are coming from Контракти.UA.
Preliminary estimates suggest that by the end of the year, the Ministry of Finance's expenditures exceeded the plan by 800 billion rubles. Total expenditures amounted to 40.2 trillion rubles — a 24% increase compared to 2023.
This was facilitated by accelerated inflation at the end of the year, which allowed for an increase in non-oil and gas budget revenues to 25.6 trillion rubles — 26% more than the previous year. Thanks to the budget rule, these funds were directed towards covering expenses.
Oil and gas revenues also rose by 26%, reaching 11.1 trillion rubles, but did not meet the expected level, resulting in a deficit increase of 200 billion rubles, bringing it to 3.5 trillion rubles.
This marks the worst performance in recent years: in 2022 and 2023, the deficit stood at 3.3 and 3.2 trillion rubles, respectively. Over the three years of war, the cumulative budget deficit of Russia reached 10 trillion rubles. In relation to GDP, the figure decreased to 1.7% compared to 2.1% and 1.9% in previous years.