An Overview of Normative Documents on Taxation Issues for October-November 2012

The law on the federal budget for 2013 and the planning period 2014–2015 was approved by the RF State Duma in the third reading on 23 November 2012[1]. The domestic debt ceiling is set at the level of 10% GDP, the foreign debt ceiling – at about Rb 2.1 trillion. There figures are above the budget liquidity ceiling recommended by international organizations (10%). We believe this index to be very important, because it describes the ratio between the size of expenditure on debt servicing and redemption and the size of federal budget revenue. An accelerated growth of the value of this index reflects the budget’s shrinking capacity to provide adequate funding for other types of current expenditures in the future. On the whole, the budget for 2013 has been drawn up with a slight deficit (0.8% of GDP) which, in a situation of a reinstated budget rule, is indicative of the government’s intention to exercise real control over the economy’s financial sustainability also at the macro-level.