Russia earns 120 bln rubles in "exit payments" from nonresidents in 2025, MinFin seeks to add fund to reserves

MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax) - Russia's budget has received 120 billion rubles in payments since the beginning of 2025 as part of transactions in which residents of unfriendly countries have sold their local assets, First Deputy Finance Minister Irina Okladnikova said.

The issue of payments on deals to exit Russia arose during the State Duma Budget and Taxes Committee's discussion of the bill on the specifics of the federal budget's execution in 2025. The bill, among other things, would give the government the right to raise total federal budget spending this year by increasing the reserve fund with additional non-oil and gas revenues.

Okladnikova said this refers only to additional revenues that were not factored into the budget. "In other words, they are absolutely new for us, or if they came in above revenues provided for in the budget law as regards the annual amount," she said.

She recalled that a similar measure was implemented in 2024 and it made it possible to channel more than 300 billion rubles into the reserve fund that could subsequently be used for additional spending.

"With these funds we financed priority measures to support the economy, the military-industrial complex and social objectives. About 120 billion rubles of such revenues have been received so far. And with this provision we will be able to deposit them in the reserve fund and finance the priorities that, among others, the [prime minister] talked about at a meeting here in the State Duma," Okladnikova said.

The additional revenues that are already coming in are "payment for exit" from assets in Russia by foreign investors, she said.

"When there is a sale of a stake, they are obligated to pay an amount into the federal budget. We cannot provision for it [initially when planning the budget for the following year] because this amount is a percentage of the value of a company. The value of a company is determined on the eve of every transaction based on an appraisal. There is a list of appraisers, they determine [the value], then a discount and only from this the payment, so it is very risky to plan it, foresee and include in the parameters of the budget. Plus, at the time the budget was passed we did not yet know whether the tenure of the commission would be extended, because it operates for one year by presidential decree, and it was again extended for this year by a separate decree," Okladnikova said.

"Now there is already a fairly large amount of such revenues, they are gradually coming in, and it would be a shame if they sat around doing nothing while there are very many sectoral and economic objectives toward which they could be channelled," she said.

Presidential decree no. 81 introduced a special procedure for transactions with residents of unfriendly countries in March 2022, stipulating that approvals for such transactions are issued by the government commission on foreign investments. A subcommittee was created for considering and making such decisions. The decree will remain in force until December 31, 2025. It applies to strategic enterprises, energy companies, banks with foreign participation, service and equipment production in the energy sector and mineral rights holders, including as part of production-sharing agreements, relating to gold, nickel, diamonds and LNG, among others.

Several conditions are imposed as part of the approval of exit transactions. One of the basic requirements is the payment of a certain sum to the Russian federal budget. Initially, this was set at no less than 10% of the transaction amount, or the market value of the asset if sold at a higher discount.

Subsequently, in October 2023, the commission established a mandatory payment of 15% of the market value of the assets to the federal budget.

In October 2024, the government commission on foreign investments again changed the conditions for approving transactions with residents of unfriendly countries, increasing the payment to the budget to 35% of the transaction amount and the mandatory discount on the independent market valuation to 60%.