The Federation Council has approved amendments to the federal budget law for 2024-2026, increasing the Russian budget deficit for 2024 to 2.12 trillion rubles ($23.9 billion), or 1.1 per cent of GDP. This represents a significant increase from the previous level of 1.595 trillion rubles ($18 billion), or 0.9 per cent of GDP. The amendments were initiated by the government. Federal budget income remains relatively unchanged at 35.062 trillion rubles ($392.4 billion), or 18.3 per cent of GDP. However, the forecast for additional oil and gas revenue has been reduced from 1.821 trillion rubles ($20.3 billion) to 1.053 trillion rubles ($11.7 billion). Overall expenditure is expected to surpass initial projections and reach 37.182 trillion rubles ($414 billion), or 19.4 per cent of GDP. This is an increase of 521.972 billion rubles ($5.9 billion) attributed to additional non-oil and gas income, as well as proceeds from asset sales. The legislation proposes a slight increase in the upper limit of state internal debt to 26.68 trillion rubles ($304.6 billion) while suggesting a decrease in the external debt limit to $63 billion from $64 billion. The revised budget is based on a projected 2024 GDP of 191.437 trillion rubles ($2.1 trillion) and an inflation rate of 5.1 per cent. These figures represent upward adjustments from the previous estimates of 179.956 trillion rubles ($2.03 trillion) in GDP and 4.5 per cent inflation. Tax revenue for the federal budget is expected to reach 27.701 trillion rubles ($315 billion), with non-tax revenue at 6.521 trillion rubles ($74.3 billion) and gratuitous receipts at 839.828 billion rubles ($9.5 billion). The projected volume of funds in the National Wealth Fund at the end of 2024 is expected to increase slightly to 11.51 trillion rubles ($129 billion) due to exchange rate fluctuations. Attribution: Tass
