The budget deficit exceeded 3 trillion rubles for the second year

The Ministry of Finance revealed the preliminary results of the execution of the federal budget in 2023: revenues amounted to 29.12 trillion rubles, expenses - 32.36 trillion. Thus, the budget deficit at the end of 2023 amounted to 3.24 trillion rubles. This is slightly less than in 2022, when the negative balance amounted to 3.3 trillion rubles.

As a percentage of GDP (estimated nominal value of gross product for 2023), the budget deficit fell to 1.9% - compared to 2.1% of GDP in 2022.

The budget law planned that the deficit would be 2.93 trillion rubles, or 2% of GDP. The budget was executed “in accordance with the target parameters of the structural balance” approved in the budget law, the Ministry of Finance emphasizes (the structural balance is understood as the difference between non-interest expenses and the amount of non-oil and gas revenues and basic oil and gas revenues, as well as “quasi-budgetary” operations, such as the provision of budget loans . - RBC).

The final expenses for 2023, in accordance with the budget rule, were the maximum expenses established by the budget law, plus additional non-oil and gas revenues that arose during execution.

Oil and gas revenues in 2023 amounted to RUB 8.82 trillion, exceeding the base amount of RUB 8 trillion. The surplus will be directed to the National Welfare Fund (NWF).

Analyst and author of the Truevalue TELEGRAM channel Viktor Tunev notes that the announced budget deficit does not reflect the real balance of all financial transactions of the state. Thus, at the end of 2022, about 1.5 trillion rubles were spent “with reserve”. to the Pension Fund (advanced transfer), and these funds were used only partially (1.1 trillion rubles remained at the end of 2023), he says. In addition, the Treasury accumulated funds from other recipients for another 1.5 trillion rubles. — this money did not reach the economy in 2023. “What matters is the dynamics and direction of real spending,” the analyst writes.