NOVO-OGARYOVO, January 22. /TASS/. The Russian budget received 1.3 trillion rubles ($13.15 bln) in additional revenues from the sale of oil and gas in 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the opening of a meeting on economic issues.
"Additional oil and gas revenues of the budget last year amounted to 1.3 trillion rubles," he said. "This will allow us to maintain the volume of the National Wealth Fund, even though some of its resources have been allocated to government spending and large, systemically important investment projects," the president added.
According to Putin, this preserves the potential of the National Wealth Fund as an important stabilizing mechanism and, at the same time, as a development instrument. Putin stressed the importance of continuing to ensure the stability and sustainability of public finances. He recalled that this is why the three-year budget was prepared taking into account the return to the budget rule.
At the same time, Putin noted that Russia’s federal budget deficit in 2024 reached 1.7% of GDP, which is an acceptable level, especially compared to the situation in developed economies. "A few words on the state of the federal budget: according to estimates, its deficit last year amounted to 1.7% of GDP. This is an acceptable level, especially against the background of the state of public finances of the so-called developed economies," Putin said.
He cited data according to which in 2024 the budget deficit in relation to GDP in the United States amounted to 6.2%, France - 6.2%, Italy - 3.8%, Japan - 3.7%, Germany - 2.2%.
Putin added that the Russian budget deficit figure is in line with the forecasts made when the budget for the next three-year period from 2025 to 2027 was drawn up. Addressing the participants of the meeting, the President suggested to summarize the preliminary results of 2024 in terms of the state of affairs in the real sector in the field of finance, including the budgetary sphere.