Russia's Ministry of Finance reported federal budget revenue of 25.93tn roubles for January to August, up 9.2% year on year, with oil and gas revenue down 16.7% to roughly 5.02tn roubles. Non-oil-and-gas receipts rose 18.1% and carried the whole increase. The ministry said it is drawing on the National Wealth Fund, the sovereign reserve built from past oil windfalls, to hold the budget steady.
The deficit moved the other way. Anadolu Agency put the January to July federal deficit at 6.46tn roubles, more than 32% above a year earlier, against the 5.7tn roubles half-year figure Sberbank put on the record in July. Russia's largest lender said then that it can no longer buy government bonds, which leaves a deficit of that size to be financed by a banking system that has named its own limit. Russia posted a June budget surplus two months before that.
Import figures show where the refinery damage lands. Russia bought a record 172,000 tonnes of fuel in August, more than seven times the previous monthly high, including petrol refined in India from Russian crude and sold back. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air separately estimates the Hormuz price spike handed Russia around €31bn in extra export revenue over six months, a windfall from a war Moscow never fought.
