The budget hole in Russia is growing rapidly. The authorities insist that there is no crisis

— We do not believe that we are dealing with a budget crisis. (…) The budget is being implemented according to schedule, she said Okłanikova, adding that budget spending is “growing slightly faster” than before, which “affects deficit indicators.”

According to data from the Ministry of Finance, within five months the federal budget collected 14.781 trillion rubles (PLN 753 billion) in revenue and spent 20.791 trillion rubles (PLN 1 trillion 59 billion). Deficit – PLN 6.01 trillion (PLN 306 billion) – turned out to be twice as large as on the same date a year earlier and exceeded the plan for the whole year by 1.6 times.

Revenues from the oil and gas sector fell by 30 percent from January to May. while revenues from other sectors increased by 12%. As a result, the total amount of revenues to the state treasury remained practically unchanged (an increase of 0.3%), while expenses increased by 17%.

According to Okłanikowa talks about a slight increase in the deficit. — We see a slightly larger increase in the deficit, but again this is related to entities not returning funds, and in some areas certain expenses are increasing, which in the current situation naturally must increase and there is no point in not confirming this, it is a fact. Therefore, we do not see any risk in it – argued the deputy minister.

Last week, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned that there would be a budget deficit this year will again exceed the framework set by the government. According to last year's results, the hole in the federal budget reached 5.6 trillion rubles (PLN 285 billion), although the authorities planned to reduce it to 1.2 trillion (PLN 61 billion). The total deficit of Russia's budget system amounted to 8 trillion rubles (PLN 407 billion), mainly due to the record deficit in the regions and the Social Fund.