The government plans to meet 90 percent of its borrowing needs on the domestic market in 2011 through 2013, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said at a conference Thursday.
Russia plans to borrow 1.5 trillion rubles ($48 billion) next year, 1.3 trillion rubles in 2012 and 931 billion rubles in 2013, Storchak said, citing preliminary estimates for the government’s borrowing program.
“The share of foreign borrowing won’t exceed 10 percent,” Storchak said. “However, a presence on the foreign markets is a must for the three-year program.”
Russia’s budget deficit is set to shrink to 5.4 percent of gross domestic product this year from 5.9 percent in 2009, as the world’s biggest energy exporter recovers from a record 7.9 percent contraction last year, the government said earlier this month.
The shortfall is set to narrow to 3.6 percent next year, 2.4 percent in 2012 and 1.5 percent in 2013, Storchak said.
The country's growing “dependence on oil prices” is likely to continue, Storchak also said. The budget deficit excluding revenue from oil and gas sales, and borrowing may widen to 13.7 percent of GDP this year, compared with 1.7 percent in 2000, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said June 18 in St. Petersburg.