Russia sticks to 2% of GDP budget deficit plan after huge January hole

MOSCOW, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Russia’s finance ministry is sticking to its plan to post a budget deficit of no more than 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, despite high spending and falling revenue Energy sources contributed to a huge deficit in January.

Russia posted a budget deficit of almost $25 billion in January, in part due to falling revenues from oil and gas, the engine of Russia’s economy. This has led analysts to predict a budget deficit of up to 5.5 trillion rubles ($73.2 billion), or 3.8% of GDP, unless Russian oil prices recover.

“The main thing is to monitor the budget balance, which will be formed by the end of the year,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview broadcast Friday by Rossiya 24. “And by the end of the year, our plan is 2% of GDP, nobody canceled it, and these parameters will be maintained”.

It was a clear signal that Moscow intends to control budget spending. A larger-than-expected deficit would require a combination of higher currency sales, lower spending, more borrowing, or higher taxes.

Russia is already selling 8.9 billion rubles ($124.5 million) worth of foreign currency a day to cover the shortfall, and last week the government floated the idea of ​​a single “voluntary” tax. ” on large companies.

(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and Alexander Marrow; additional reporting by Marina Bobrova; Spanish editing by Flora Gómez)