Russia had balanced budget in 2012 -Siluanov
MOSCOW. Jan 16 (Interfax) - Russia had a balanced federal budget in 2012, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at the Gaidar Forum.
"The budget had a zero balance last year," he said.
But there was a non-oil deficit, of 10.6% of GDP, he said.
A slight surplus of 0.1%-0.2% of GDP was planned for last year, according to the Finance Ministry's latest estimates in December. "Significant funds will be used at the last moment, and the budget deficit will depend on how they are used, but we think the budget will be in surplus, albeit a small one," Siluanov said at the end of December.
Budget funds are usually spent more actively in the last few weeks of a year. Two weeks before the end of the year 1.7 trillion rubles of budget spending had still not been allocated, while overall spending was 13 tonnes rubles, Siluanov has said.
