Russian budget deficit in 2023 to be 1.5% of GDP or a bit lower - Siluanov

MOSCOW. Dec 26 (Interfax) - The federal budget deficit at the end of 2023 in nominal terms will be at the level of forecasted values of about 2.9 trillion rubles, while as a percentage of GDP, it is expected to be lower than the 2% initially planned - 1.5% or slightly less, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.

"We planned a deficit for the current year of slightly less than 3 trillion rubles; 2.9 trillion rubles, to be exact. We expect the same figure for the year, because, on the one hand, our expenses have increased in connection with new tasks, but revenues have grown as well. The general parameters of the 2.9 trillion-ruble deficit in nominal terms remained practically unchanged, that is, we expect this indicator to remain unchanged. As a percentage of GDP, of course, it will be below 2%. We now expect a deficit of about 1.5 %," Siluanov said in an interview with Rossiya 24.

Meanwhile, the minister noted that the final assessment of budget execution in relation to GDP would depend on "what volume of GDP we will get after all the clarifications and recalculations are completed. Therefore, the deficit may be below 1.5%. Based on today's estimates of the nominal volume of GDP, this is about 1.5% of GDP, which is less than we initially planned," he said.

Siluanov also recalled that at the beginning of the year there were large expenses. "Everyone said that the deficit would go above the 2% level, but we said that these were advance payments; that a lot of money was invested in advance financing, and indeed this is what happened. At the end and in the middle of the year the growth rate of expenses decreased, and we are reaching the target budget deficit in nominal terms, and as a percentage of GDP it will be lower than originally planned," the minister said.