Page 109 - RusRPTApr23

Last summer, the Ministry of Finance stopped publishing data on budget expenditures broken down by direction, citing sanctions. But Bloomberg was able to calculate the numbers for the first months of 2023 (until March 21) based on data from the Electronic Budget portal. The Bell recalculated the data using the same method and got a similar result.
The main thing in Bloomberg's calculations is the 2.3-fold increase in spending on closed budget items, from 880 billion to 2.02 trillion rubles. The share of these items in the total budget expenditures increased proportionally - up to 27%, and if we add to them the expenditures not attributed to any of the "open" areas - up to 31.2%. The previous record for the share of closed articles - 21% - was set in 2015, the year after the annexation of Crimea, Bloomberg notes.
Most of the closed budget items traditionally fall on defence, national security and law enforcement. But now there have been added expenses indirectly related to the war, independent economist Alexandra Suslina noted in a conversation with Bloomberg. These are, for example, social and other expenses for the maintenance of the occupied territories of Ukraine.
109 RUSSIA Country Report Russia April 2023 www.intellinews.com