Russian public debt up 40% in one year

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 25 Feb 2021 by Alex Teddy
On February 23 the Audit Chamber published data demonstrating that Russia's public sector borrowing ballooned in 2020. The national debt is USD 257 billion: that is 17.8% of GDP. The debt is not large by global standards. However, the government has boasted of the success of its fiscal discipline in keeping the debt low. The government sold tens of billions of dollars of bonds. Reduced oil and gas revenues hit the exchequer hard.In 2020 there was a USD 55 billion deficit. That comes after several years of surpluses. There is a USD 170 billion national wealth fund as well. The government has refused to dip into this. The government prides itself on prudence. Some economists consider this foolish. The NWF is there for precisely a situation such as we are in. This would be less costly than increasing borrowing.USD 71 billion from oil and gas levies came to the state budget in 2020. That is 33% down on 2019.Russian debt was most bought by state-owned financial institutions. Russia owes only 22% of its national debt to foreigners. The government prefers its bonds to beheld by Russians.

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