Finance Ministry revises estimate of 2002 federal budget surplus

The Russian Finance Ministry made an upward revision of the 2002 federalbudget surplus estimate from RUR58.3bn (around $1.85bn) to RUR77.35bn(around $2.45bn) (up from 0.53 percent of the GDP to 0.7 percent of theGDP), the press service of the Finance Ministry reported toRosBusinessConsulting. The Ministry's forecast of the budget income wasincreased from RUR2.143 trillion (around $68.03bn) to RUR2.183 trillion(around $66.19bn) (up RUR40bn or around $1.26bn), while its forecast of thebudget expenditures - from RUR2.085 trillion (around $66.19bn) to RUR2.106trillion (around $66.85bn) (up RUR21bn or $0.6bn). Russian GDP estimate wasincreased from RUR10.9 trillion (around $346bn) to RUR10.95 trillion(around $347.6bn) earmarked in the law on the federal budget. As it wasearlier reported by RosBusinessConsulting, the surplus of RUR178.3bn(around $5.66bn), the income of RUR2.126 trillion (around $67.49bn) and theexpenditures of RUR1.947 trillion (around $61.8bn) were earmarked in thelaw on the federal budget..