Russia’s Finance Ministry announced on Thursday that the federal deficit stood at 3.42 trillion rubles ($45.4 billion) from January 1 to the end of April, exceeding the annual plan by 2.9 trillion rubles, according to Bloomberg.
Public spending in Russia jumped 26%, while revenues fell 22%, as oil and gas revenues fell more than half from a year earlier.
Despite the Russian government’s efforts to limit spending, the deficit continued to deteriorate during the month of April, indicating that the government’s efforts in this regard have not been successful so far, which increases worries about high inflation rates in the period ahead and are forcing the central government to reverse some of the interest rate cuts it took last year, Alexander Isakov, an economist at Bloomberg and expert from Russia.
The Russian Finance Ministry said the increase in spending was due to advance payments made at the start of the year, which are not expected to continue for the rest of the year.
The ministry did not mention how the money was spent, but economists believe it is often tied to war costs.
In this context, the Kremlin adviser for economic affairs, Maxim Oreshkin, expected the Russian budget to turn into a surplus later this year.
Read the Latest World News Today on The Eastern Herald.
