Finance Ministry reports budget surplus in 2002

The surplus of the Russian federal budget reached 81.6bn rubles (about$2.58bn) in the first six months of this year, which was 1.7 percent of thepreliminary GDP estimates for the first half of 2002, a report of theRussian Finance Ministry says. According to the report, devoted to thefederal budget's implementation from January to June 2002, regarding thecash execution of the budget, the federal budget also saw a surplus of162.8bn rubles ($5.16bn), or 3.4 percent of the GDP.Revenues of the Russian federal budget amounted to 991.1bn rubles($31.39bn) in the first half of this year, which was 46.6 percent of theannual volume and 20.6 percent of preliminary GDP estimates. Federal budgetexpenditures, regarding the volume of budget allocations, hit 909.5bnrubles ($28.8bn), or 46.7 percent of the planned annual volume ofexpenditures and 97.2 percent of planned expenditures in the first half of2002. Regarding the cash execution of the budget, budget expendituresreached 828.3bn rubles ($26.23bn), or 42.5 percent of the planned volume ofexpenditures in 2002 and 88.5 percent of planned expenditures in the firsthalf of 2002..