MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. Russia will see a budget surplus in 2021, President Vladimir Putin said in a video conference address to a G20 summit on Saturday.

"Russia's budget deficit grew to four percent of GDP in 2020 amid large-scale measures to support the country's people, small and medium-sized businesses and the healthcare system. It particularly allowed us to ensure the recovery of the labor market and this year, we normalized our macroeconomic policy so that we will see a budget surplus this year," he pointed out.

Putin emphasized that all countries in the world were facing economic and healthcare issues, which topped the G20 summit's agenda. "As far as I can see from the previous addresses, Russia's position is similar to what my colleagues have already said," he said. The Russian president noted that last year, when the world was first hit by a deep crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the economic authorities of the G20 nations and many other countries had decided to raise the level of budget deficit, which in many ways made it possible to launch a global economic recovery. However, in Putin's words, "such extraordinary measures, which were accompanied by security purchases by central banks, clearly should be limited in time".