Finance Ministry posts budget surplus

The Russian federal budget enjoyed a surplus of 45.9bn rubles (about $1.45bn), or 2.6 percent of the GDP, in January and February 2003, a source in the Finance Ministry reported to RBC. This data does not take into consideration revenues from the single social tax. In particular, the budget surplus totaled 32.8bn rubles (about $1.04bn) in February, excluding single social tax payments, or 3.7 percent of the GDP.