Putin announced a budget deficit of 2.2 trillion rubles due to increased spending

The Russian federal budget deficit for the first three months of 2025 amounted to 2.2 trillion rubles. This was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 24.

According to Putin, the main reason for the deficit was a 25% increase in budget expenditures compared to the same period last year. He stressed that these measures had been planned in advance.

"This was done deliberately so that the participants in economic activity, all our departments, would take the necessary actions on time so that we could work rhythmically by the end of the year, but nevertheless, I would like to emphasize once again that the increase in the budget deficit is primarily due to a change in the spending schedule," the Russian leader added.

Putin added that budget expenditures had been postponed to an earlier date in order to speed up the implementation of national projects, payment of contracts, start of construction work and allocation of financing.

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Earlier, on April 8, Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global, said that according to the results of the first half of 2025, the budget deficit would be about 0.8–0.9%. By the end of the year, it may decrease to 0.6%, which looks more likely, or reach the planned 0.5%, which is a "more optimistic scenario."