Secret budget expenses exceeded 30%. This is apparently spending on war and annexed territories

The Russian authorities have classified a third of the federal budget expenditures for the period from the beginning of 2023 to March 24. This is a record figure, writes Bloomberg. Unknown are the costs of a total of 2.4 trillion rubles. At the same time, it follows from the open part of the budget that expenditures on national defense are now second only to expenditures under the “social policy” item.

Details. According to information published on the Electronic Budget portal, federal budget revenues during this period amounted to 3.46 trillion rubles, and expenditures - 7.37 trillion. Bloobmerg estimates that it remains unknown how a third of this amount was spent. This is an unprecedented level of secret spending.

• Compared to last year, the closed part of the budget has doubled over the same period. Classified spending has become the most significant item in the budget, overtaking last year's top-ranked social spending.
• The agency assumes that the secret spending includes spending on the war with Ukraine. Economist Alexandra Suslina said that the increase in the share of such spending could indicate increased military spending. In addition, she suggested that this category included spending on territories annexed at the end of last year.
• The statistics of the Ministry of Finance also refutes the words of the Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov. He attributed the growth in budget expenditures to the high rate of VAT refunds and decisions that were aimed at supporting Russian taxpayers. According to Bloomberg, spending on the economy and social programs in the first three months of the year remained at last year's level, while defense spending showed the largest increase. Transfers to regional budgets also increased, and spending on education and healthcare also showed a slight increase.

Context. The Russian federal budget for 2023 assumes a record share of secret spending, which should be a quarter of the country's total spending - 6.58 trillion rubles. Much of the increase in spending is attributable to an increase in spending under "Other National Defense Expenditures".

• In 2022, the Russian budget deficit amounted to 3.3 trillion rubles, with a planned surplus of 1.3 trillion rubles. The authorities plan to end 2023 with a deficit of 2.93 trillion rubles, but already in February the difference between expenses and incomes exceeded last year's deficit and the deficit planned for this year.