Page 25 - RusRPTApr23

In February, the budget received RUB521bns from the sale of oil and gas. The mineral extraction tax from gas increased due to one-time payments by Gazprom.
In April, due to the quarterly payment of AIT, oil and gas revenues will increase markedly. But at the current level of income for the year, they will not exceed RUB6 trillions, while the planned RUB8 trillion, according to MMI analysts. According to the Ministry of Finance, in March the budget will receive less than RUB132.1bns of oil and gas revenues.
The Russian authorities have several ways to fill the budget deficit, including the sale of reserves from the National Wealth Fund (NWF), which holds RUB6.6 trillion as of January.
The authorities intend to partially make up for the budget deficit through additional taxes on businesses.
First, the government demanded that large companies make a one-time payment of 200–250bns to the budget. And this is on top of the recalculation of taxes for 2022 launched in December, which could cost the entire economy another RUB1.8 trillions.
Secondly, the authorities plan to solve the problem of lost revenues from oil and gas in the near future by changing the rules for calculating the mineral extraction tax.
Russia's reserves in yuan, gold and euros are enough to cover a budget deficit of 3% of GDP over the next three years, according to Bloomberg Economics.
The Ministry of Finance sold yuan in January amid falling oil and gas revenues and continued to do so in February and March. However, by summer, sales may decline or even be replaced by purchases. In February, the Ministry of Finance sold 12 tons of gold from the NWF, with sales together with the Chinese yuan amounting to RUB131.7 billions. Despite this, a reduction in spending to meet the planned RUB29.1 trillions for the remaining 10 months is unlikely.
2.6 Drones, assassinations and Ukrainian forces attack Russia
At least four different Russian regions, including Moscow Region, were attacked by Ukrainian drones in the last week of February. In addition, an armed band — apparently with neo-Nazi links — crossed the border into Russia from Ukraine, allegedly killing two civilians, and the Russian security services claimed March 6 to have foiled an assassination attempt on a prominent Russian businessman with extreme nationalist views.
Two drones successfully struck an oil terminal in Tuapse in the Krasnodar Region; three or four fell in the suburbs of Belgorod (most likely failing to reach their target); and another one was found at a village in the Adygei republic (at
25 RUSSIA Country Report Russia April 2023 www.intellinews.com