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Russian State Duma passes draft federal budget for 2023-2025 in second reading

Some 750 amendments have been submitted to the draft budget, with 605 amendments passed
Russian State Duma Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS
Russian State Duma
© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Russia’s State Duma (lower house) passed the draft federal budget for 2023-2025 in the second reading at a plenary session on Tuesday.

Some 750 amendments have been submitted to the draft budget, with 605 amendments passed.

Russia’s budget expenditures will total 29 trillion rubles ($477 bln) in 2023, 29.4 trillion rubles ($484 bln) in 2024, and 29.2 trillion rubles ($480 bln) in 2025, according to the draft document. Revenues will stand at 26.1 trillion rubles ($430 bln) in 2023, 27.2 trillion rubles ($448 bln) in 2024, and 27.9 trillion rubles ($459 bln) in 2025. Deficit in 2023 is projected at 2% of GDP (or around 3 trillion rubles), with mainly borrowings planned to be used to cover it. Meanwhile, it is expected that budget deficit will gradually decrease to 0.7% in 2025.

The draft budget is based on a baseline outlook on Russia’s socio-economic development for 2023-2025, which suggests a gradual decline of the Urals oil price (from $80 per barrel in 2022 to $65 in 2025), the moderate weakening of the ruble’s exchange rate (from 68.1 to 72.2 rubles per $1) and the return to the targeted inflation level of 4% - by the end of 2024 (from 12.4% in 2022).

Moreover, the baseline scenario implies that the Russian economy will shift to recovery growth in early 2023, whereas by the end of 2024 the majority of the main indicators, including GDP, industrial production, fixed investment, will surpass the pre-crisis level in comparable prices.

The third reading of the draft budget by the State Duma is scheduled for November 24.