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Putin predicts 2010 budget deficit

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-31 00:03

MOSCOW: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin predicted on Thursday that Russia will run a budget deficit of 3.2 trillion rubles ($101.5 billion), or 7.5 percent of its gross domestic production (GDP),  the "maximum deficit" the country can afford without harming economic stability.

"I should say frankly that this is the maximum deficit we can afford without harming macroeconomic stability," Interfax quoted Putin as saying at a government meeting on federal budget for 2010-2012.

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Putin said the budget deficit should be reduced to 4.3 percent of GDP in 2011 and less than 3 percent in 2012. "This is a guarantee of macroeconomic stability and the successful post-crisis restoration of the economy," he explained.

The budget expenditures planned for 2010 should be revised, but investment in human capital and the economy's innovative branch will be retained, he said.

Over 70 percent of next year's budget expenditures are clearly intended for social purposes and expenditures under the social policy section will increase by more than 10 percent, Putin said.

"Expenditures on national security and defense have been virtually kept intact," he added.

The Russian economy, heavily dependent on exports of energy and raw materials, has been hit hard by the global financial crisis.

The Russian GDP contracted by 10.1 percent in the first half of this year, and the country is estimated to run a budget deficit of 9.4 percent of GDP, its first deficit in a decade.