Tax Ministry posts rise in collected excises

The volume of collected excises for the Russian consolidated budget totaled 259.6bn rubles (about $8.16bn at the current exchange rate) in 2002, which was 13.1 percent more than in 2001, the press service of the Russian Tax Ministry reported. In particular, the volume of excises collected for the federal budget went up 11 percent to 210.5bn rubles (about $6.62bn at the current exchange rate).