The public finances ended last year with a deficit of 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the Finance Ministry said on Thursday in a new macroeconomic forecast.
Government debt increased to 44.6 percent of GDP last year from 42 percent in 2021. This year, the ministry expects a public finance deficit of 4.2 percent of GDP and an increase in debt to 45.8 percent of GDP.
Last year’s public finance performance was one percentage point better than the ministry’s November forecast.
According to the ministry, this is since the entire support for large companies could not be used up last year due to high energy prices, and these costs have been shifted to this year.
Another reason was the lower-than-expected uptake of social benefits and the minor budgetary impact of the collapse of Sberbank.