Russia's Finance Ministry confirms 2023 budget deficit forecast of nearly 1% of GDP

MOSCOW. Nov 22 (Interfax) - The official forecast for the 2023 federal budget deficit is currently about 1% of GDP.

Under the current budget law, a deficit of about 2.9 trillion rubles, or 2% of GDP, is planned for 2023. At the end of September, the head of the Ministry of Finance, Anton Siluanov, said that the deficit could come in under 2%, and at the beginning of October, President Vladimir Putin gave an even more optimistic estimate of around 1%.

This is still relevant as of the end of November. "About 1% is expected. Initially, it was 2% [in the Ministry of Finance forecast for this year]," Siluanov told reporters at the Federation Council.

"Additional non-oil and gas revenues are coming in very well. The economy is working, and growth rates allow us to talk about higher budget revenues," the minister said.

From January through October, preliminary data show the budget deficit totaled 0.7% of GDP.

The situation with budget execution in the second half of the year changed significantly: at the end of July, Siluanov said that the deficit could be larger than planned and reach 2.5% of GDP.

According to the Electronic Budget portal, as of November 20, Russian budget revenues totaled 23.04 trillion rubles, spending was at 25.68 trillion, and the deficit was 2.64 trillion rubles.