MOSCOW, Sept. 10 — Russia’s federal budget deficit reached 5.79 trillion rubles (about 68.32 billion U.S. dollars), equivalent to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product, in the first eight months of this year, the Russian Ministry of Finance said Wednesday.
According to the ministry, federal budget expenditures totaled 31.72 trillion rubles during the January-August period, up 14.7 percent year on year.
“The faster pace of federal budget spending execution in January-August 2026 stems from the prompt conclusion of contracts and advance financing for certain contracted expenditures,” the ministry said in a press release.
Meanwhile, preliminary estimates showed that federal budget revenues totaled 25.93 trillion rubles during the period, up 9.2 percent from the same period in 2025.
Non-oil and gas revenues reached 20.91 trillion rubles, up 18.1 percent year on year, while oil and gas revenues fell 16.7 percent to 5.02 trillion rubles.
According to the release, the decline in Russia’s oil and gas revenues during the first eight months of the year was mainly attributable to a weaker U.S. dollar and lower oil prices in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. (1 Russian ruble = 0.0118 U.S. dollar) (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
