Russian federal budget deficit 5.234 trillion rubles or 2.3% of GDP in 10M - MinFin

MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax) - Russia had a federal budget deficit of 5.234 trillion rubles or 2.3% of GDP for January-October 2026, according to preliminary estimates, the Finance Ministry said.

The 2026 budget plans a deficit of 3.786 trillion rubles or 1.6% of GDP for 2026 as a whole. The Finance Ministry in September estimated there would be a deficit of 7.345 trillion rubles or 3.2% of GDP.

There was a deficit of 3.942 trillion rubles or 1.8% of GDP in January-October 2025.

The Finance Ministry does not disclose monthly figures. According to its preliminary data, the deficit for January-September 2026 was 5.186 trillion rubles, or 2.2% of GDP. Comparison with these figures points to a deficit of 48 billion rubles in October. The Federal Treasury has not yet published its own data for 9M 2026. A surplus of 609 billion rubles was seen for September and around 600 billion rubles for August; prior to that, there was a surplus of 196 billion rubles in June.

Budget revenues for 10M 2026 rose 11% year-on-year to 33.176 trillion rubles. The MinFin said there were positive trends in key non-oil and gas revenues for both the federal budget, up 19.1% year-on-year, and the budget system as a whole, up 13.7%.

Non-oil and gas revenues were 26.734 trillion rubles. VAT revenue grew 27.8% to 14.701 trillion rubles.

Oil and gas revenues fell 14.1% year-on-year to 6.442 trillion rubles and above the baseline level 5.994 trillion rubles for the period due to a lower average dollar exchange rate and an increase in the damper component as global petroleum product prices rose more quickly.

According to preliminary estimates, budget expenditures rose 13.4% year-on-year in 10M to 38.41 trillion rubles. The MinFin said the expenditure limit might be raised this year depending how much windfall non-oil and gas revenue and other sources of financing for the deficit (not more than 3 trillion rubles) are received.