OREANDA-NEWS. January 21, 2010. Ministry of Finance published a preliminary estimate of federal budget execution in 2009. Incomes were equal to RUB7,336bn and expenditures totaled RUB9.962bn., reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation.

The budget deficit reached RUB-2,336bn or 5.9% of GDP, on a total GDP estimated by Minfin at RUB39.2tr. According to Minister Alexei Kudrin, taking into account quasi-fiscal expenditures (such as RUB179bn aimed at bank capitalization or RUB30bn aimed at small business support), the deficit reached 6.4% of GDP.

View: We regard this news as positive because the actual budget execution turned out to be easier than expected, and the deficit was less than had been anticipated (previous projections were for a deficit of 8-8.5% of GDP). Clearly, higher oil & gas prices improved the overall situation. The federal budget received nearly RUB3tr from oil and gas, which was 45% higher than were planned.