Authorities postpone a third of budget expenditures to the end of the year

Budget expenditures in the fourth quarter of 2024 will amount to a record Br13.9 trillion. This is 34.8% of the total amount of the treasury spending. Such dynamics indicates the uneven use of money during the year, according to the report of the Accounts Chamber on budget execution for January-September this year ("Izvestia" has studied it).

It didn't add up: Russia's budget deficit holds at minimum levels

However, massive spending is scheduled for December

Already by mid-December, the level of budget spending is higher than in 2023 and amounts to 35.5 trillion, or 88.6% of all spending, the Finance Ministry told Izvestia.

As a rule, at the end of the year, December is the month with the most spending, the ministry confirmed. This is due to the transfer of salaries, allowances and pensions, as well as payments for servicing the state debt and the completion of settlements on state contracts, they added.

In addition, a large amount of spending was postponed to the end of the year, as the authorities revised the budget parameters in the summer, said Anna Chalova, associate professor at the Plekhanov Russian Economic University. Compared to the original plan, the forecasted spending of the treasury in 2024 increased by 2.7 trillion during the revision.

"Uneven spending has a negative impact on the budget process and the price level. A significant amount of money is "injected" into the economy in a short period of time, which increases inflation and the amount of unutilized funds," said Alla Chalova.

As a result, it leads to the growth of the key rate, which at the same time less and less restrains the cost of goods and services, added Andrei Barkhota, PhD in Economics.

Read more in the exclusive material "Izvestia":

The great sweat: the authorities have postponed a third of budget expenditures to the end of the year