Russia's budget surplus is shrinking

According to data released by the Russian Ministry of Finance, the country's budget revenues amounted to 17.6 trillion rubles in the January-August period of this year.

In the said period, Russia's budget expenditures amounted to 17.5 trillion rubles, while the budget surplus decreased to 137 billion rubles.

The country's budget surplus, which stood at 481 billion rubles in the January-July period of this year, thus fell by 71 percent.

Russia's oil and natural gas revenues in the first 8 months of the year amounted to 7.8 trillion rubles.

Experts point out that despite the increasing oil and natural gas revenues, Russia has also increased its expenditures to ease the effects of the sanctions, and therefore it is likely to run a budget deficit this year.