The budget deficit of the Russian Federation for four months exceeded the annual plan

For four months of 2023, Russia’s federal budget deficit amounted to 3,424 billion rubles, which exceeds the expected annual figure. This became known thanks to data from the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation released on May 10 following the results of April this year.

It should be noted that according to the law on the budget, revenue in 2023 is planned in the amount of 26 trillion 130.3 billion rubles, and expenditure – 29 trillion 55.6 billion rubles, that is, say the deficit should amount to 2 trillion 925.3 billion rubles. or 2% of GDP. So, in four months, the deficit turned out to be already 850 billion higher than expected for the whole of 2023. At the same time, in April, the budget deficit increased by a colossal amount – 1 024 billion rubles.

According to the department’s report, the total budgetary expenditure was at the level of 11.206 trillion rubles, an increase of 26% compared to the same period in 2022 due to expenditure in the social and defense sectors, but this does not is not terrible, but natural, given the circumstances.

At the same time, some difficulties arose with total budget revenues, since in January-April 2023 they decreased by about 22% and amounted to 7,782 billion rubles, which is already serious. In addition, oil and gas revenues fell by 52.3% and amounted to 2,282 billion rubles, which is worrying, even if the Ministry of Finance speaks of a gradual exit to a stable trajectory and “positive dynamics”. sustainable “.

The published document also indicates that in January-April 2023, the expenditure part of the annual budget was executed at 38.6%, compared to 32.2% last year. With what result Russia will arrive at the end of this year, it is still difficult to predict.

However, if this continues, then this year the Russian Federation is quite capable of “exceeding the plan” for 2022, when the budget deficit amounted to 2.3% of GDP and even approached the mark of 3, 5-4% of GDP, that is. up to conditional 20% of the budget. But Russia does not have as much money in the “box” as we would like.

They will last for several years (three years), if they are spent at the same rate, then big trouble will begin, because the country’s financial airbag will be blown. Therefore, the Russian Federation, given the current political realities in the world, needs time to quickly rebuild its economy during this period.