Russia triples budget deficit due to $33 billion loss in oil and gas revenues
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The Russian State Duma has approved in the first reading amendments to the 2025 budget, which envisage a threefold increase in the planned deficit – from 1.17 to 3.8 trillion rubles ($48 billion), The Moscow Times reports.

Initially, the Russian authorities planned to reduce the "hole" in the budget by 1.17 trillion rubles ($15 billion) and begin replenishing the National Welfare Fund, which had significantly decreased over the three years of the full-scale war in Ukraine.

But due to the fall in oil prices and the strengthening of the ruble, plans had to be changed – now, instead of accumulating reserves, the Russian Ministry of Finance is again preparing to spend them.

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In the new forecast, the country's government lowered the expected average price of Urals oil from $69.7 to $56 per barrel. At the same time, the actual price since the beginning of the year has already been lower than even this new figure.

Together with the strengthening of the ruble, this has led to a reduction in Russia's oil and gas revenues by almost 2.6 trillion rubles ($33 billion) – a quarter of planned revenues.

The Russian Ministry of Finance acknowledged that the situation could worsen further in the fall, when new data becomes available.

The head of the budget committee of the Russian State Duma, Andrei Makarov, warned that the real deficit could be even larger, as in the first four months of 2025 it reached 3.23 trillion rubles ($41 billion), almost equal to the new annual estimate.

In addition to economic factors, new risks to Russian revenues are the threat of increased sanctions from the US, in particular, secondary restrictions on buyers of Russian oil.