Russia can use higher than expected oil and gas revenues received this year to finance the country’s current budget deficit, president-elect Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
“I think we could cover the current deficit by these [oil and gas] revenues as we must regulate [the deficit] by the end of the year,” Putin said at a government meeting.
Russia’s budget deficit amounted to 245.34 billion rubles ($8.313 billion) between January and February 2012, two times higher than the government forecast of about 124 billion rubles ($4.202 billion) or 1.5 percent of country’s gross domestic product.
The government considers that the public administration reform was one of the core factors of forming deficit at the beginning of the year.
The Russian government forecasts the 2012 budget deficit will amount to 1.5 percent of GDP or about 900 billion rubles but Deputy Finance Minister Tatyana Nesterenko said on Tuesday that higher oil prices could help Russia reduce the deficit, or even bring in a surplus, by the end of this year.