MOSCOW, September 11. /ITAR-TASS. Russia posted a federal budget surplus of 2% of GDP in January-August 2014, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday.

“As of September 1, the surplus remained at 2% of GDP,” Siluanov told a government meeting.

“Moreover, local budgets of Russia’s budget system also posted a surplus. This refers both to regional budgets and the budgets of state extra-budgetary funds, which showed a surplus of 3.2% of GDP,” Siluanov said.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told the government meeting that Russia’s federal budget surplus had amounted to 2.2% of GDP in the first six months of 2014 or 718 billion rubles ($19.4 billion).

Medvedev said that budget revenues had grown by 14% in January-June 2014 year on year to over 7 trillion rubles compared with state expenditures of 6.4 trillion rubles over the same period.

At the same time, the country’s GDP growth slowed to 0.8% in the first six months of 2014. As a result, GDP amounted to about 33.6 trillion rubles in January-June this year, the premier said.

Fixed capital investment also declined in the first six months of the year, the premier said.

Despite deterioration in some economic indicators, the Russian government managed to keep macroeconomic stability in the country and ensure the fulfillment of social obligations in the past few months, Medvedev said.

“The past period was very complex for us. One of our achievements during this period is that we have been able to maintain macroeconomic stability while strictly complying with main budget spending priorities through higher spending efficiency and the concentration of expenditures on key programs and more targeted social assistance,” the premier said.

The government has also been able to maintain a balanced budget, the premier said.