Russia’s federal budget deficit decreased to 1.518 trillion rubles (about $23.5 billion), or 2.9% of the country’s gross domestic product, in the first eight months of 2016, the Russian Finance Ministry said, Xinhua reported. Federal expenses amounted to 9.661 trillion rubles (about $149.2 billion) between January and August, while federal revenues reached 8.142 trillion rubles, the ministry said. The Federal Tax Service transferred 4.423 trillion rubles to the federal budget in January-August, while the Federal Customs Service cut 2.735 trillion rubles. Other federal authorities have listed 983 billion rubles, it said.
