Russia’s state revenues plummet, expenditures zoom

According to estimates by Russia’s Finance Ministry, its federal budget revenues in the first four months of 2023 dropped by 22.4% as compared to the same period in 2022 (RUB 7,782 billion against RUB billion 10,034).

The situation is even worse with the oil and gas revenues, which collapsed from RUB 4,787 billion to RUB 2,282 billion, i.e., by 52.3%.

In Aesopian language the Kremlin once used for such failures, it was called “negative growth.”

A real significant growth, however, is seen in the expenditures: RUB 11,206 billion or 26,3% up from RUB 8,869 billion.

As a result, Russia’s budget deficit has already exceeded its target for the whole year: RUB 3,424 billion in January-April 2023 vs. RUB 2,925 billion planned for the year.