81918443 Economic Development and Trade forecast sharply reduced budget deficit
Russian federal budget deficit in 2011 may amount to 0,6-0,8 per cent of GDP. On this, as according to RIA Novosti, said Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach. The Russian budget for 2011 is now forecast the deficit recorded at 3.6 percent of GDP. The main reason for the decline forecast by the budget deficit is not reduced costs and higher oil prices on the world market, which leads to an increase in payments to the budget revenues. In January-February 2011 federal budget surplus amounted to 52.78 billion rubles (0.7 percent of GDP). Thus in January the same period amounted to 121.54 billion: thus, the February surplus more than halved. Prices of Brent crude oil on the world market have risen to a mark in 120 dollars a barrel due to sustained global economic recovery, and because of military conflicts on the territory of several countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The cost of Russian Urals oil is tied to contracts for Brent and stable costs over a hundred dollars a barrel, although the government has predicted that by 2011 oil will cost $ 75 per barrel. According to the latest forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development, the average oil price this year will be $ 105. In mid-March 2011, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that Russia will finish the year without a budget deficit at an average annual oil prices to $ 115 per barrel. In turn, Klepac on March 16 noted that at current oil prices, Russia will come to a budget deficit of one percent of GDP.
