Russian oil and gas revenues, the mainstay of state coffers, rose 22.5% in February, but were still 46.4% below February 2022, Finance Ministry data showed on Friday.
Tax and customs revenue from oil and gas sales fell to the lowest level since August 2020 in January.
Moscow depends on energy revenues — about 11.6 trillion rubles ($154 billion) last year — to fund government spending, and has been forced to sell foreign reserves to cover a deficit stretched by the cost of its military operation in Ukraine. is
Budget revenue from oil and gas sales reached 521.2 billion rubles ($6.9 billion) last month, up from 425.5 billion in January and 971.7 billion in February 2022.
The ministry on Wednesday gave a notional price for Russian Urals crude in February of $49.56 a barrel – slightly higher than January’s $49.48, but well below the February 2022 price of $77.16.
February revenues were boosted by revenue from the Mineral Extraction Tax (MET) on oil, which rose by 126.6 billion rubles ($1.68 billion) from January, as well as the MET on natural gas, which increased by 76.2 billion rubles.
Russia’s budget for 2023 forecasts a deficit of 2% of GDP, and any larger deficit would require higher foreign exchange sales, lower spending, more borrowing or tax increases.
