Bloomberg: Who says “sanctions”? Russia’s budget revenue surges to record in December 2024

Russia’s budget revenue rose to a record high last month even after the US targeted the banking sector with a new round of sanctions aimed at disrupting foreign trade payments and curbing proceeds from exports, Bloomberg confesses.

Total revenue in December reached more than 4 trillion rubles ($40 billion), up by 28% compared with the same month of the previous year, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Finance Ministry data published late Monday. That’s the highest level recorded in ministry data that starts from January 2011.

The US and its allies have been seeking to stop the Kremlin by limiting export revenues and imposed more sanctions on Russia’s energy industry and banks that service it late last year. That triggered a collapse in the ruble and depressed Russia’s foreign trade in December.

Still, oil and gas income spiked by a third in December from the previous year and increased by 26% for 2024, according to the Finance Ministry, while other sources of revenue posted a similar advance for the full year due to taxes and dividends amid robust economic growth.

“The volume of non-oil and gas revenues in 2024 significantly exceeded estimates in the 2025-2027 budget law, including from the largest tax sources,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The increase in revenue allowed the government to spend more than ever, with total expenditure for the month of 7.15 trillion rubles, breaching the previous record set in December 2022.

Total revenue in 2024 rose by 26% to 36.7 trillion rubles, while expenses increased by 24% to 40.2 trillion rubles. The Russian currency lost about 12% against the dollar in the period, according to central bank data.

read more in our Telegram-channel https://t.me/The_International_Affairs