The contribution of oil and gas revenues to Russia’s federal budget fell 47% in the first half to 3.4 trillion rubles, or $37.338 billion, from the same period a year earlier, according to data. published today by the Russian Ministry of Finance.
According to information on budget execution, in monthly terms in June revenue from this item fell by 26.4%, to 528.6 billion rubles or 5.836 billion dollars compared to the previous month.
According to the department headed by Anton Siluanov, the deviation of oil and gas revenues actually received from the expected monthly volume amounted to 30.347 million rubles in June (335 million dollars).
In order to compensate for the deficit, the Russian state will sell foreign currency for a total of 34,893 million rubles (385.2 million dollars) between July 7 and August 4, Finance said. The operations will be carried out from July 7, 2023 to August 4, 2023, respectively, and the daily volume of foreign exchange sales will amount to the equivalent of 3.7 billion rubles.
According to the ministry’s forecasts, in July the federal budget will receive 4.546 million rubles (50.2 million dollars) less in oil and gas revenues.
Russia has calculated its budget with 70 dollars per barrel. According to the ministry, the average price of Urals crude between January and June was $52.17 per barrel, compared to $84.08 in the same period in 2022.
The decline in oil and gas revenue was mainly due to lower Urals oil prices and a decline in natural gas exports.
On December 5, the European Union (EU) embargo on oil from Russia by sea came into effect, a measure that coincided with the imposition by the EU, the G7 and Australia of a ceiling price of 60 dollars a barrel of Russian crude.
In addition, on February 5 the EU, the G7 and Australia also began to apply maximum prices to Russian petroleum products; 100 dollars per barrel for diesel and 40 dollars per barrel for other derivatives.
Russian President Vladimir Putin assured in June that Russia is gradually “disengaging” from its dependence on gas and oil revenues, and that non-hydrocarbon revenues increased between January and May by 9.1%, more than expected.
According to the Ministry of Finance, Russia exceeded in the first four months of 2023 the budget deficit forecast for the entire fiscal year, by accumulating a hole of 3.4 trillion rubles (44,987 million dollars or 40,979 million euros), especially due to falling oil and gas revenues.
However, Russia still has 12.7 trillion rubles or 139.875 million dollars or 8.4% of GDP in the National Wealth Fund, a kind of piggy bank for bad times, the Government also reported today. For comparison, the previous month was 12.35 trillion rubles or 8.2% of GDP.
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