OREANDA-NEWS. September 07, 2009. Financial Minister Alexei Kudrin said announced 8M09 Federal budget revenues of RUB4.1trln and expenditures of RUB5.6trln, as the fiscal deficit reached 5.9% of GDP, сompared with 4.3% in 7M09, reported the press-centre of OTKRYTIE FC.

View: First, the negative surprise came from the revenue side, as revenues in August accounted for the very low figure of ~RUB350bn, implying a ~45% MoM decrease. Considering the relatively high price of oil, statistics for August could contain some negative surprises. Second, fiscal spending in August was posted at ~RUB880bn, up from ~RUB830bn in July and ~RUB800bn in June, implying an acceleration of the pace of spending.

Additionally, Prime Minister Putin called for spending lags to be eliminated. Altogether this hints that expenditures for the full year will be close to the plan, it will clearly put pressure on the ruble.