Russia's federal budget deficit for Jan-Feb at 2.7 trln rubles or 1.3% of GDP

MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) - Russia's federal budget for January-February was executed with a deficit of 2.701 trillion rubles, or 1.3% of GDP, according to preliminary data from a brief monthly report published by the Finance Ministry.

The budget law for the current year has planned a deficit of 1.173 trillion rubles, or 0.5% of GDP.

The level of the deficit primarily resulted from accelerated expenditure financing in January, the Finance Ministry said. This will not affect the quarterly trajectory or achievement of the structural balance targets for 2025 as a whole, it said.

According to the ministry's preliminary estimates the deficit amounted to 1.7 trillion rubles or 0.8% of GDP in January.

The deficit in February can thus be preliminarily estimated at around 1 trillion rubles.

The federal budget deficit for January-February last year was 1.13 trillion rubles, or 0.6% of GDP. Unlike this year, it was mainly formed in February rather than January.

Federal budget expenditures in January-February increased 30.6% year-on-year, reaching 8.45 trillion rubles.

"The monthly dynamics of federal budget expenditure execution slowed in February (+7.4% year-on-year) after accelerated expenditure financing in January 2025, linked to the prompt conclusion of contracts and advance financing for certain contract-based expenditures. However, no significant changes in the quarterly dynamics of expenditure execution are expected this year," the ministry said.

Overall, in 2025 federal budget expenditures are formed in accordance with the norms of the budget rule, which is based on the maximum level of budget allocations approved in the budget law and the amount of additional non-oil and gas revenues if they are generated during the year, the ministry said. Certain expenditures for the current year were financed through the advance transfer of additional non-oil and gas revenues generated at the end of 2024.

Federal budget revenues amounted to 5.344 trillion rubles, up 6.3% compared to the previous year.

Non-oil and gas revenues increased 11.1% to 3.784 trillion rubles. VAT receipts grew 8.1%, to 2.02 trillion rubles.

A slight excess of non-oil and gas revenues over the planned level creates a stable foundation for further accelerated revenue growth, the Finance Ministry said. The trajectory of non-oil and gas revenue inflows at the beginning of the current year, along with a higher tax base from the previous year, creates prerequisites for a significant outperformance compared to the dynamics laid out in the budget law.

Oil and gas revenues fell 3.7% to 1.56 trillion rubles.

The decline in oil and gas revenues compared to the same period of the previous year was primarily due to a one-time additional payment of the mineral extraction tax on oil in February 2024, the ministry said. At the same time, oil and gas revenues in January-February 2025 exceeded their baseline level, although there are risks of a decline due to a weakening price environment, it said.

Overall, federal budget revenues are planned at 40.296 trillion rubles for the year, while expenditures are planned at 41.47 trillion rubles.