Russian federal budget deficit 5.877 trillion rubles or 2.5% of GDP in Jan-April - MinFin

MOSCOW. May 8 (Interfax) - The Russian federal budget had a January-April 2026 deficit of 5.877 trillion rubles or 2.5% of GDP according to preliminary estimates, the Finance Ministry said.

The planned federal budget deficit for the year is 3.786 trillion rubles or 1.6% of GDP.

There was a deficit of 2.931 trillion rubles in January-April 2025.

"The high deficit at the beginning of the year is primarily due to advance financing of expenditures," the Finance Ministry said.

The ministry does not disclose monthly figures. There was a deficit of 4.576 trillion rubles or 1.9% of GDP for January-March, according to preliminary MinFin data, so the April deficit can be estimated at 1.3 trillion rubles on that basis.

Budget revenue fell 4.5% year-on-year in January-April to 11.721 trillion rubles.

Oil and gas revenues fell 38.3% year-on-year to 2.298 trillion rubles, below baseline oil and gas revenues for the period, which are 2.847 trillion rubles. They fell largely due to the drop oil prices in previous periods.

Non-oil revenue grew 10.2% year-on-year in January-April to 9.423 trillion rubles. Revenue from sales taxes including VAT rose 17.2% year-on-year, with VAT revenue rising 20.2% to 5.313 trillion rubles. A positive tendency is being observed for key non-oil remittances to both the federal budget (+10% year-on-year) and the budget system in general (+8.8%), the ministry said.

Budget expenditure rose 15.7% year-on-year to 17.598 trillion rubles due to the prompt conclusion of contracts and advance financing for individual contract expenses.

Revenue and expenditure for January-April indicate that budget execution was aligned with structural deficit target parameters, the ministry said.

Approved budget revenue for the year is 40.283 trillion rubles and expenditure is 44.07 trillion rubles.

The Finance Ministry has also proposed not amending the budget for 2026 and the 2027-2028 planning period this spring, adjusting it within the government's mandate.

"We will proceed without amendments this spring, but we will ask parliament for permission to adjust certain budget parameters within the government's mandate," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said.

The high deficit and record federal budget expenditures in the first quarter could lead to a greater fiscal stimulus for 2026 than assumed in the baseline scenario, thus raising the likelihood of a lower-than-expected disinflationary effect from fiscal policy, the Central Bank of Russia said in its summary of the discussion on the key rate. This raises the likelihood that fiscal policy in 2026 may not achieve the expected disinflationary effect.