The Russian State Duma immediately adopted the law on amendments to the federal budget for 2025 in the second and third readings.

The bill introduced by the Russian government was supported by 402 deputies and only one abstained, The Moscow Times reports .

Taking into account the changes, the Russian federal budget expenditures this year have been increased by half a trillion rubles – to 42.8 trillion rubles.

At the same time, due to falling oil prices and the slowdown in the Russian economy, the budget revenue plan has been reduced for the second time since the beginning of the year. Initially, the Russian Ministry of Finance expected to collect 40.3 trillion rubles for the year, but in the spring this figure was reduced to 38.5 trillion rubles, and now to 36.6 trillion rubles.

As a result, the federal budget deficit in 2025 will grow to a record 5.74 trillion rubles ($70.5 billion at the current exchange rate), or 2.6% of GDP. Before that, the largest budget deficit in the Russian Federation was recorded in the pandemic year 2020: 4.1 trillion rubles, then it was 3.8% of GDP.

To finance the deficit, the Russian government will increase public debt.

The borrowing program for 2025 has been increased by 2.2 trillion rubles, to almost 7 trillion, and the total public debt will increase by 5.4 trillion rubles at the end of the year.

At the same time, there are no plans to spend funds from the reserve National Welfare Fund (NWF) to cover the deficit.

As reported, in September, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin admitted that Russia’s federal budget expenditures are indeed increasing, including due to the occupation war in Ukraine, but this does not pose a major problem given the low level of national debt, hinting at the possibility of increasing borrowing to continue the war.

At the same time, Putin promised not to raise taxes again in the near future. However, the day before, the Russian Ministry of Finance submitted to the government for consideration a draft federal budget for 2026 and a package of accompanying bills, which provide for an increase in the value-added tax (VAT) rate from 20 to 22%. The Russian ministry directly indicated that the tax increase was necessary to finance the war next year.

Author:  Mykhailo Orlyuk Джерело: https://censor.net/n3580903

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