MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia will prioritize national security, infrastructure and human investment in forming its budget, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an annual report to lawmakers Wednesday.
"When forming the budget, we will proceed from three fundamental principles. The money should first be invested in a person. Second, the implementation of infrastructure projects, and third, to ensure national security," Medvedev said.
In 2016, Russia's budget deficit totaled 3.5 percent of GDP.
Russian state coffers have significantly reduced dependence on income from oil and gas, with over half of consolidated budget funds coming from other sectors, Medvedev said.
"More than two thirds of our budget, including money coming from the Reserve Fund, were until recently dependent on selling oil and gas. The situation has now changed, with more than half of the budget coming from other sectors," Medvedev said while addressing the State Duma.
The pattern persists despite rebounding oil prices over recent months, he added.
"Non-commodity federal budget revenues have increased almost 60 percent [58.2 percent] in the first quarter of the year," the prime minister observed.
Russia was hit hard by the plunge of oil prices over 2015 and 2016, forcing the government to unleash budget cuts as the Central Bank followed a tight monetary policy. The country went through a recession over the past two years but a recovery is underway with positive growth reached in the last quarter of 2016.
