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next two years, Putin’s new social spending initiatives, i.e. payments to families, will cost 400bn rubles ($5.3bn). Two-thirds of those funds will be spent this year. According to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the most expensive measure that Putin announced is the 10,000-ruble payment to the parents of schoolchildren, which will cost 170bn rubles ($2.3bn). Regarding restructuring regional debts that exceed 25% of revenue, MinFin says the measure will cost 176bn rubles ($2.3bn), or approximately 20bn rubles ($267mn) per year over the next eight years.
Russia will spend between RUB21-22 trillion ($273-$282bn) in its new state military procurement budget from 2027 the first deputy chairman of the Board of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission Andrey Yelchaninov said on April 14, reports TASS. "We assume that, despite the economic situation in the country, financial characteristics of the new state program won’t be less in absolute figures [than they were in previous years]. A similar state program for 2010-2020 cost 21.2 trillion rubles ($275.5bn). The current state program (2018 - 2027) has a budget of 21.7 trillion rubles ($282bn). Judging by this dynamics, we expect the new state arms procurement program to amount to no less than 21-22 trillion rubles," Yelchaninov said in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta government daily, cited by TASS. Russia spent RUB21.2 trillion in the previous 2010-2020 budget.
Russia’s covid-19-related stimulus measures amounted to just 4% of GDP, according to the World Bank. The pandemic, in Putin’s eyes, is not the proverbial rainy day the NWF was intended for: the fund actually grew in 2020. The limited stimulus was instead financed by borrowing. Most of the stimulus came through tax breaks and loan guarantees, rather than direct support to small- and medium-sized firms or households.
Russia’s military spending continues to rise. According to recent statistics from the Stockholm Institute for Peace Research (SIPRI), total military spending by countries around the world continued to rise last year.
In real terms, world military spending was 2.6% higher than in 2019 and about 9% higher than ten years earlier. Russia's military spending increased by 2.5% in real terms and China's by 1.9% year-on-year.
The United States and China are the largest countries in the world in terms of military spending. The rapid growth of China’s economy and military spending elevated the country to the world’s second largest state in terms of military spending in the early 2000s. The US share of world military spending has shrunk from about 50% to less than 40%, while China’s share has grown from less than 5% to more than 10%. SIPRI estimates that China's military spending last year was $252bn, or 13% of world military spending. China’s military spending has grown at about the same pace as the country’s economy, and the ratio of
80 RUSSIA Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com