Russian state tax revenue from the oil and gas sector fell 47% to 3.38 trillion rubles (34.2 billion euros) in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2022, according to Finance Department data. posted on Wednesday. This decrease in revenue is related to lower prices and lower export volumes. These revenues are crucial for Russia’s commodity-based economy and for financing the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
In detail, oil and gas revenue fell 26.4% in June year-on-year to 528.6 billion rubles, compared with a 36% drop in May. Limiting oil prices by the West and last September’s destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines to Europe have limited revenue. Russia’s budget deficit reached $42 billion in the first five months of the year, 17% more than forecast for all of 2023.
Projected 23% drop in oil and gas revenue in 2023
In June, revenue from the oil and gas budget fell 7.4% month-on-month, as the tax on the extraction of raw materials and taxes on the export of natural gas fell. Extraction tax revenue fell to 631.6 billion rubles in June from 703.6 billion rubles in May, while export duties fell to 57.7 billion rubles from 66.1 billion rubles in May.
Subsidies to refineries fell to 73.9 billion rubles from 91 billion rubles in May. Payments to refiners under the “buffer mechanism”, which helps limit fuel price increases in the Russian domestic market, fell to 78.6 billion rubles, from 103.5 billion rubles in May.
The Finance Ministry predicts that oil and gas revenue this year will fall 23% to 8.94 trillion rubles, while the budget deficit is expected to amount to almost 3 trillion rubles, or 2% of gross domestic product. .
Source: BFM TV
