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Russian Government Hides Last Remaining Financial Reserves as Budget Gap Widens
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The Russian government has hidden official data regarding cash reserves held in the single treasury account, which served as a primary buffer for unallocated budget funds, The Moscow Times reported on August 13.
The Federal Treasury removed its daily operational statistics showing ruble deposits in commercial banks and money market operations, as well as total available cash across all budget levels.
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The move came as total government spending jumped by 14.5% year-over-year by the end of July, exceeding planned projections by an estimated 5 trillion rubles ($56.8 billion) if current trends continue.
To manage a budget deficit that reached 6.5 trillion rubles ($73.86 billion) by late July, authorities withdrew 3.5 trillion rubles ($39.77 billion) from these ruble reserves since the start of the year, reducing the treasury's available cash from 8 trillion rubles ($90.9 billion) to 4.5 trillion rubles ($51.13 billion).
Formally, these reserve funds consist of tax revenues and other income held within the banking system or invested in repo and swap transactions to generate interest.
Economist Kirill Rodionov noted that the government shifted to using these cash reserves after pausing public debt issuances in July, following a drop in government bond prices and reduced purchases by major commercial banks due to liquidity constraints and cash withdrawals.
Former Deputy Finance Minister and Central Bank Deputy Chairman Sergey Aleksashenko pointed out on August 10 that "the Treasury has hidden this information."
Other state financial reserves have also declined significantly since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Liquid assets in the National Wealth Fund, accumulated from past energy revenues, fell from 8.8 trillion rubles ($100 billion) to 3.5 trillion rubles ($39.77 billion) by mid-2026.
Alexandra Prokopenko, a scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, described the remaining amount as a "pale shadow of the pre-war level." The Ministry of Finance is currently attempting to preserve the remaining funds by relying on current oil and gas receipts.
Maintaining planned spending levels may require further fiscal measures. Rodionov stated, "Without raising taxes — similar to increasing the base VAT rate from 20% to 22% in 2026 and corporate income tax from 20% to 25% in 2025 — it will be difficult for the Finance Ministry to support the current level of expenditure."
He added that additional tax increases could lead to a "more pronounced economic slowdown than at present." This restriction on treasury data follows previous decisions to limit access to various public statistics.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, authorities have classified information regarding central bank gold and foreign exchange holdings, monthly budget execution breakdown details, fuel production metrics, official salaries, customs data, demographic statistics, and financial disclosures for major corporations.
Previously, Russian leader Vladimir Putin urged private domestic companies to finance scientific development as state funding declined amid heavy defense spending on Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at a meeting of the Council for Science and Education in Novosibirsk, Putin stated that commercial enterprises had to directly commission breakthrough technological solutions and technologies.
The request came as federal budget allocations for civilian science dropped to 792.1 billion rubles ($8.7 billion), accounting for just 2.5% of total government expenditure—an amount 22 times smaller than the 17.8 trillion rubles ($195.8 billion) spent combined on military and security forces.
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