Siluanov named the number of regions with a budget surplus in the first quarter

72 regions completed the first quarter with a budget surplus, said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, speaking at a meeting of the Council of Legislators. According to him, the subjects are fulfilling the income plan ahead of schedule. Initially, it was expected that the regions will receive 3% less in 2023 than in 2022, but so far, on the contrary, actual receipts exceed the forecast by 6%.

“Here, 52 regions showed positive dynamics compared to last year, and 72 regions have revenues for the first quarter exceeding expenses,” Siluanov said.

At the same time, the subjects have accumulated reserves, which continue to grow, the minister added. The remaining liquidity, according to him, is almost 4 trillion rubles, and this figure has grown compared to the beginning of the year, he said.

The investment expenditures of the entities increased this year by 70% compared to the same period last year, the minister said. Including through credit support for infrastructure. “This year alone, we will allocate 440 billion rubles. such budget loans,” he specified.

The regions are showing positive dynamics against the backdrop of a significant federal budget deficit, Siluanov recalled. This is due to the fact that since this year the authorities have accelerated advance payments to recipients, as well as with the transition to a single tax account (UNT), the minister explained.

“We are guided by the fact that this year we will have a deficit budget, but we are trying to make sure that it remains within our target of 2% of GDP,” he assured.

According to the results of three months of 2023, the budget deficit amounted to 2.4 trillion rubles, the Ministry of Finance reported. According to the Electronic Budget portal maintained by the Federal Treasury, as of April 26, the gap between income and expenditure approached 6 trillion rubles. After the transition to the UNS, tax payments are credited to the budget once a month, so the growth of spending and income is uneven.

According to the law on the budget for this year, revenues are expected in the region of 26 trillion rubles, expenses – 29 trillion, the deficit is thus projected at the level of 3 trillion rubles.

After significant spending at the beginning of the year, the budget will run with a surplus in the remaining months, declared during the marathon of the Russian society “Knowledge” presidential aide Maxim Oreshkin on April 25. According to him, the budget is “generally stable” and so far there is no reason to expect a deviation in the amount of the deficit at the end of the year from the target values.

“After a period of fairly large budget expenditures at the beginning of the year, we will have a budget surplus until the end of this year, which indicates its sustainability. And in general, the levels of deficits will be near the target values. And the balance of payments continues to be healthy with a certain current account surplus,” he said.

At the end of 2022, a small surplus was recorded in all subjects, Vedomosti wrote. The aggregate indicator of the excess of income over expenses amounted to 10 billion rubles. Surplus budgets have developed in 36 regions, the largest in St. Petersburg (120 billion rubles). Of the deficit regions, the highest gap between income and expenditure was recorded in the Moscow Region (66.6 billion rubles).