OREANDA-NEWS  Russian federal budget expenditures in December may reach 5.5 trillion rubles and exceed the November level (2.7 trillion) by more than two times. This is reported by the Vedomosti newspaper with reference to the operational data of the Electronic Budget.

It is noted that the federal budget funds were spent most actively in the last days of December. As a result, as of January 1, 2024, total government spending for 12 months totaled 32.4 trillion rubles, although at the end of January-November it was at the level of 26.84 trillion.

Thus, in December, budget expenditures could reach 5.56 trillion rubles. At the same time, the total amount of guest spending in the first month of winter turned out to be 21 percent less compared to the same period in 2022. At that time, a total of 7 trillion rubles were allocated from the budget, taking into account the financing of obligations for the next billing periods.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that by the end of 2023, the federal budget deficit could be below one and a half percent. Prior to that, he claimed that in the first 11 months of last year, the total shortage amounted to 878 billion rubles, or about 0.5 percent of GDP.