Russia’s Four-Month Budget Deficit Narrowed to 0.3% of GDP

Russia ran a budget surplus in April, narrowing the four-month fiscal gap to 0.3 percent of gross domestic product, the Finance Ministry said.

The cumulative deficit shrank to 60.3 billion rubles ($2 billion) in April, from a downwardly revised 70.2 billion rubles a month earlier, the Moscow-based ministry said on its website today, citing preliminary data.

Russia, which depends on energy exports for half of its budget revenue, may run a surplus this year, acting Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said last month. The average crude oil price needed to balance the budget will drop from $117 a barrel this year to $113 next year and $107 in 2014, the government estimates. Higher energy revenue pushed the federal budget into a surplus of 0.8 percent of economic output in 2011.

Urals crude oil, Russia’s chief export blend, has gained more than 3 percent since the start of the year, averaging about $116.4.

Revenue was 4.07 trillion rubles at the end of April, or 34.5 percent of the government’s target for the year, while spending was 4.13 trillion rubles, or 32.6 percent of the goal, according to the Finance Ministry.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zoya Shilova in Moscow at zoya@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net