On Jan. 10, the Russian government reported its second highest budget deficit in the post-Soviet era. The New York Times reported citing Russia's finance minister that the budget gap reached 3.3 trillion rubles in 2022, or 2.3 percent of the Russian economy. "Russia’s revenues increased by 2.8 trillion rubles in 2022, or $40 billion, but that was not enough to cover rapidly increasing expenditures, which skyrocketed by 6.4 trillion rubles, or $92 billion," officials said.
The Russian government has not published a detailed breakdown of its expenditures in 2022, but it is widely assumed that the bulk of the rise can be attributed to increased military spending.
