Russia's 2011 budget deficit may fall to 2% GDP or less - Kudrin

© RIA NovostiRussia's 2011 budget deficit may fall to 2% GDP or less - Kudrin
Russia's 2011 budget deficit may fall to 2% GDP or less - Kudrin - Sputnik International
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Russia's budget deficit may fall to 2% of gross domestic product or less in 2011, from 3.9% last year, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Monday.

Russia's budget deficit may fall to 2% of gross domestic product or less in 2011, from 3.9% last year, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Monday.

Kudrin said that given the current high prices for oil, the country's key export, Russia did not plan to use the Reserve Fund, which accumulates windfall revenues from oil sales, this year, and would cut spending.

"But given the situation on the domestic market, the prevention of excessive money growth - even if this concerns oil - we will partly preserve borrowing, and we will have a budget deficit. It will stand at about 2% or less, but nevertheless, we will have to cover part of the deficit by borrowing," Kudrin told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The official 2011 budget deficit forecast stands at 3.6% of GDP.

Kudrin said the Reserve Fund volume may rise to 1.45 trillion rubles this year from 770.24 billion rubles as of February, 2011.

"We are starting to accumulate reserves for the first time since the crisis, which is indeed very important because global market risks persist and the oil price is currently at a very high level. In fact, they are at one of the highest levels in the history of monitoring," he said.

Unrest in large oil exporting states of the Middle East and Africa has pushed the average price of Russia's Urals blend to $95.25 per barrel compared to the $75 on which the Russian budget was calculated in October 2010.

 

MOSCOW, February 28 (RIA Novosti)

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