Page 75 - RusRPTNov23

in January - September 2023 totalled RUB19,734bn ($195.5bn), which corresponds to the volume of revenues received in the like period of 2022," the ministry informed. Federal budget expenditures over nine months of this year totalled RUB21.432 trillion ($212.3bn), up 9.7% year on year.
According to the latest official figures for January-August, the budget deficit was RUB2.36 trillion, or 1.6% of GDP.
During his Valdai speech in October Putin said the federal budget surplus in the third quarter amounted to RUB660bn. This is probably true (there are no figures for September yet, but in July-August the budget was in the black by RUB235bn) - but it could just as easily be recalled that in the first two quarters the budget went into the red by RUB2.6 trillion.
Putin, however, does not argue that the budget will be in deficit at the end of the year (the last time it was different was in 2019). But, Putin repeated twice at Valdai, the budget deficit in 2023 will be only 1%.
If this is not a figure of speech, then we are talking about a double adjustment - the current budget assumes a deficit of 2% of GDP (2.9 trillion). Just a week earlier, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the deficit “will definitely not be higher than 2%, and possibly lower,” the Bell reports.
Due to smaller deficits, Russia needs to rely less on two key financing channels—NWF withdrawals and OFZ issuance. New issuance of domestic debt was 2.1 trillion in January-September 2023, significantly less than in the fourth quarter 2022. At the same time, the NWF only sold assets worth 560 billion to support the budget (vs. 3 trillion in the fourth quarter 2022).
The federal budget deficit is projected to be at or below 1% of GDP in 2024-26 and to be financed by domestic borrowing. Planned net issuance is 3 trillion rubles this year, followed by 1.6 trillion, 0.8 trillion, and 1.5 trillion in 2024-26, respectively
75 RUSSIA Country Report November 2023 www.intellinews.com