Russia to use reserves to cover growing budget deficit: Report

​​​​​​​By Emre Gurkan Abay and Mucahithan Avcioglu

MOSCOW/ISTANBUL (AA) - Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Tuesday that the budget deficit will increase because of falling oil and natural gas revenues, and some reserves from the National Wealth Fund will be spent to close the deficit, according to the Tass news agency.

"Overall for the year, based on the forecasts given to us by the Ministry of Economy, which we have adopted as the basis for adjusting the federal budget, we are using the National Wealth Fund's funds in the amount of 447 billion rubles ($5.48 billion)," he told reporters in Moscow.

Pointing out that officials made changes in budget forecasts due to changing oil prices, Siluanov said, “We do not expect any additional borrowing volumes or increase in expenses in excess of the growth of non-oil and gas revenues. This means that the volume of borrowing on the market is not increasing," as he evaluated the increase in the 2025 budget deficit forecast from 0.5% to 1.7% of gross domestic product (GDP).

He noted that the basic fiscal principles approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin will remain until 2030 and will not be changed.

Russia's liquid assets in the Sovereign Wealth Fund stood at 3.2 trillion rubles ($39.2 billion) as of April 1.