MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's budget deficit could contract to around 6.8% of GDP next year, compared to the previous forecast of 7.5%, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.

Kudrin earlier said the budget deficit amounted to 5.9% of GDP in the first eight months of this year, and is likely to reach 7.8% of GDP for the whole of 2009, excluding spending from the National Wealth Fund.

The minister told reporters after a government meeting to discuss the 2012-2012 budget: "We discussed next year's revenue growth in view of the new growth forecast and new prices, as well as other development factors. These revenues could total 303.5 billion rubles ($9.7 bln)"

"Our shared position, which we were able to formulate today, is that this additional revenue will not be used for next year's spending, but will go towards reducing the deficit. Therefore, next year the deficit could be less, at around 6.8% of GDP."