According to preliminary data from Russia’s Finance Ministry published on March 10, the federal budget for January–February 2026
posted a deficit of 3.4 trillion rubles, or 1.5% of GDP. This amounts to more than 90% of the planned deficit for the entire year (3.8 trillion rubles, or 1.6% of GDP).
As the Finance Ministry explained, “the high deficit figures at the beginning of the year are mainly due to accelerated financing of expenditures within the year and will not affect the implementation of the target structural balance parameters for 2026 as a whole,” Finam.Ru wrote.
It should be recalled that by the end of 2025, the budget deficit amounted to 5.65 trillion rubles (2.6% of GDP). At the same time, the budget law was revised twice last year, with the planned deficit ultimately increasing nearly fivefold compared with the original version.
Interfax cited information from the Finance Ministry stating that the main sources of deficit financing in 2026–2028 will be government borrowing.
For 2026, the borrowing target was increased from 3.537 trillion to 3.980 trillion rubles; for 2027, from 3.626 trillion to 3.794 trillion rubles; and the projected target for 2028 stands at 4.579 trillion rubles.
The volume of public debt will continue to grow at a faster pace than previously expected:
in 2026 it will amount to 43.668 trillion rubles (compared with 40.029 trillion rubles in the previous forecast), in 2027 to 48.432 trillion rubles (44.928 trillion rubles previously), and it will reach 53.762 trillion rubles in 2028.
Expenditures on servicing public debt, including municipal debt, are projected at 3.9 trillion, 3.758 trillion, and 4.523 trillion rubles respectively over the next three years.
