State support for agricultural exports to decline to 54.7 bln rubles in 2024 - draft budget

MOSCOW. Sept 26 (Interfax) - State support for exports of Russian agricultural products in 2024 will decrease to 54.703 billion rubles from the 70.944 billion envisaged by the law on the budget for 2023 and the planning period of 2024-2025 (law 466-FZ), according to the explanatory note to the draft budget for 2024 and the planning period of 2025-2026, the text of which was seen by Interfax.

According to consolidated budget data, as of September 1, 2023, 57.878 billion rubles have been allocated to finance this direction.

"The volumes of budget allocations envisaged in the bill compared to the volumes approved by law No. 466-FZ in 2024 have been reduced by 25.140 billion rubles," the explanatory note indicates.

The change in the financing parameters for the "Export of agricultural products" federal project is due to the reduction of budget allocations for state support for incentivizing the increase in oilseed crops production compared to the volumes approved by law No. 466-FZ, by 1.969 billion in 2024. This was done "in order to exclude support for high-margin agricultural sector products," the document said.

Subsidies for capital expenditures for the creation and (or) modernization of agricultural facilities should be reduced by 2.5 billion, while subsidies for measures in the field of reclamation of agricultural land - by 6 billion rubles.

Furthermore, state support for leasing operations may be reduced by 2 billion rubles compared to previous parameters, while subsidizing of soft loans declines by 3.549 billion rubles "due to the expected reduction of the CBR's key rate in accordance with the regulator's medium-term forecast," according to the explanatory note.

In 2022, Russia exported $41.6 billion in agricultural products compared with $37.1 billion in 2021. According to the Agriculture Ministry's forecast, exports could rise to $42 billion this year and up to $45 billion in 2024.