Russia still aiming for budget deficit of 2% for 2023 despite Jan figures - Siluanov

MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Russia will stick to the main parameters of the federal budget for 2023, which targets a deficit of 2% of GDP, despite the budget's poor performance in January alone, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.

The budget deficit surged 14-fold to 1.776 trillion rubles in January from 125 billion rubles a year earlier, preliminary data from the Finance Ministry showed. Revenues fell 35% year-on-year to 1.356 trillion rubles, with oil and gas revenues falling 46% to 426 billion rubles, while spending surged 59% to 3.117 trillion rubles.

The fact that the January deficit amounted to 60% of the target for the whole year, which is 2.925 trillion rubles, combined with the ongoing steep discount in the price of Russia's Ural's crude against Brent led a number of analysts to question whether budget targets will be met this year.

"The most important thing is to look at the budget balance that adds up at the end of the year. And for the year our target is 2% of GDP. No one has cancelled it and these parameters will be maintained," Siluanov said in an interview with TV channel Rossiya24, commenting on the budget figures for January.