OREANDA-NEWS  The federal budget deficit in January–April amounted to 3.4 trillion rubles, and in April — just over 1 trillion rubles, follows from the data of the Ministry of Finance. Thus, at the end of four months, the interim deficit exceeded the planned one for the whole year (about 2.9 trillion rubles).

This means that in order to meet the deficit stipulated in the budget law, the government will need to maintain the budget in surplus in the remaining months of the year.

Presidential aide Maxim Oreshkin said at the end of April that the budget would be in surplus for the rest of the year, "which indicates its sustainability." "And in general, the levels of deficits will be near the target values. And the balance of payments continues to remain healthy with a certain current account surplus," the presidential aide said at the time.

The winter–spring deficit is caused, on the one hand, by a reduction in oil and gas revenues against the background of the introduction of the G7 price ceiling, on the other hand, by the advanced financing of "a number of contracted expenses" in January—February.

However, soon the budget should again generate additional oil and gas revenues and, accordingly, the Ministry of Finance may stop spending yuan from reserves. The Agency notes that the budget parameters by the end of 2023 will correspond to those laid down in the budget law, with an amendment to the fact that expenditures can be increased by the amount of possible additional non-oil and gas revenues (this is consistent with the budget rule and does not increase the deficit).