Page 45 - RusRPTOct19

6.0 Public Sector 6.1 Budget
Russia’s MinFin submitted the federal budget draft to the State Duma at the start of October. The headline figures are already available (see tables below), but more details will be released later, especially on the government's approach to allocating excess oil revenues, after the liquid part of the NWF exceeded 7% of GDP. The budget rules say that any money above 7% in the NWF can be spent by the government as it sees fit.
The cabinet of Russian government approved the 2020-2022 budget
ahead of its submission to lower chamber of the parliament, the State Duma, on September 30. The surplus for 2020 is estimated at 0.8%, gradually declining to 0.2% in 2022.
The budget foresees a noticeable reduction in the budget surplus from 1.7% GDP in 2019 to just 0.2% in 2022.
Two-thirds of 2020 budget revenue will come from value-added and mineral extraction taxes. In this sense, both the VAT hike at the beginning of 2019 and the oil sector tax maneuver are paying off, fortifying government finances.
The budget is becoming less transparent. The categories of expenditures that will grow the most next year are obscured. For instance, the entire growth in national security spending comes from an increase in “other expenses” from 171 to 422 billion rubles. Similarly, spending on “other environmental issues” will grow by 69% in 2020.
45 RUSSIA Country Report October 2019 ww.intellinews.com