Economy of Russia

The state budget recorded a primary surplus of 12.01 billion euros in the first 11 months of this year, against a target for a primary surplus of €9.91 billion and a primary surplus of €5.82 billion for the same period of 2023.

Despite a barrage of Western sanctions and swathes of brands quitting Russia after the Kremlin launched its Ukraine offensive, Moscow's most well-off shoppers are still spoilt for choice when it comes to luxury Western goods.

A primary surplus of 12.01 billion euros has been recorded in the state budget execution for the period January-November 2024, according to the data announced on Monday afternoon by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance.

This compares to a target for a primary surplus of €9.91 billion and a primary surplus of €5.82 billion for the same period in 2023.

Newly imposed international sanctions on Russia, combined with existing sanctions, could affect the flow of Russian tourists to Türkiye, according to Firuz Bağlıkaya, president of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB).

Türkiye is one of the favored destinations of Russian holidaymakers with the Mediterranean province of Antalya standing out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a new federal budget for 2025, marking a significant increase in defense spending amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. The budget allocates a record 13.5 trillion rubles (119 billion euros) to national defense, representing 32.5% of total expenditures, up from 28.3% this year.

The Russian ruble has experienced a significant decline, reaching its lowest value against the U.S. dollar since the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As of this week, the ruble fell to 110 per dollar, marking its worst performance since March 2022.

The budget execution for the January-October period showed a primary surplus of 13.528 billion euros, compared to a target for a primary result of €12.93 billion and a primary surplus of €6.08 billion for the same period in 2023.

Greece's state budget presented a primary surplus of 8.743 billion euros in January-September 2024, against a primary surplus target of €5.3 billion and a primary surplus of €5.98 billion euros in the same period of the previous year, per the preliminary data available for the execution of the state budget on a modified cash basis.

The excess of tax revenues was confirmed on Monday by the latest budget execution data for the year's first eight months.

According to them, tax revenues amounted to 43.092 billion euros, increased by €1.989 billion or 4.8% compared to the target included in the indicative report of the 2024 budget.

The Treasury's cash budget produced a surplus of 234.8 billion Turkish Liras ($7.3 billion) in May, according to data from the Treasury and Finance Minister.

This marked the first cash surplus since November last year.

Cash revenues amounted to 1 trillion liras last month, while expenditures stood at 787.5 billion liras.