RUSSIA’S STATE BUDGET IN JANUARY-DECEMBER 2014

According to the preliminary data of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, on the basis of the results of January–December 2014 both revenues and expenditures of the federal budget rose by 0.3 p.p. of GDP as compared to the same period of the previous year. For 11 months of 2014, the revenues and expenditures of the consolidated budget of constituent entities of the Russian Federation rose, too, by 0.2 and 0.1 p.p. of GDP, respec- tively, as compared to January–November 2013. On the basis of the results of 2014, the defi cit of the federal budget amounted to 0.5% of GDP, while the consolidated budget of constituent entities of the Russian Federation in January–November 2014 was executed with a small surplus of 0.1% of GDP. So, consolidation of negative factors such as a drop in global prices on hydrocarbons and depreciation of the ruble exchange rate has not aff ected much so far the execution of the revenue and expenditure sides of the federal budget and the consolidated budget of constituent entities of the Russian Federation. However, the Government of the Russian Federation and experts in public fi nances1 are unanimous that 2015 is going to become one of the most complicated years for the budget system of Russia in the past 15 years.