Russian federal budget deficit 3.393 trillion rubles or 1.5% of GDP in 5M

MOSCOW. June 10 (Interfax) - The Russian federal budget had a deficit of 3.393 trillion rubles or 1.5% of GDP in January-May 2025 according to preliminary estimates, the Finance Ministry said in a monthly brief.

There was a deficit of 3.225 trillion rubles according to preliminary data in January-April 2025. The Federal Treasury said on June 9 that there was a federal budget deficit of 2.931 trillion rubles for 4M.

There was a deficit of around 168 billion rubles for May, going by the MinFin's data for 4M 2025, and a deficit of 462 billion rubles going by the Federal Treasury's data.

The planned federal budget deficit for the year is 1.173 trillion rubles or 0.5% of GDP but spring amendments to the budget, which the State Duma is debating, increase the planned deficit to 3.792 trillion rubles or 1.7% of GDP.

Federal budget revenue grew 3.1% year-on-year to 14.732 trillion rubles in 5M 2025.

Non-oil revenue grew 12.3% to 10.492 trillion rubles, somewhat exceeding the target. Sales tax revenue including VAT rose 5.8% and VAT revenue grew 5.7% to 5.501 trillion rubles.

The Finance Ministry said non-oil revenue could grow significantly more than stated in the approved budget based on its January-May growth trajectory as well as the higher tax base of the previous year. The budget amendments envisage a higher non-oil revenue forecast.

Oil and gas revenue fell 14.4% year-on-year to 4.24 trillion rubles in January-May 2025, principally due to a fall in the average oil price as well as the one-off additional mineral extraction tax payment on oil in February 2024.

"Oil and gas revenue in January-May this year was higher than the base level; however, it is at risk of decreasing due to weaker lower price environment," the Finance Ministry said.

The ministry forecasts an oil and gas revenue shortfall of 447 billion rubles in 2025. This amount will be taken from the National Wealth Fund (NWF).

Federal budget expenditure increased 20.7% year-on-year to 18.125 trillion rubles in 5M 2025. Expenditure increased at a slower rate of 11.9% year-on-year in February-May after accelerated growth to 64.1% year-on-year in January 2025.