Russian business leaders donate 383 billion rubles to federal budget

Russian business leaders and entrepreneurs have transferred approximately 383.69 billion rubles (roughly 4 billion euros) to the Russian federal budget following an appeal from President Vladimir Putin. Data from the ‘Electronic Budget’ system shows a significant surge in these voluntary contributions following a March meeting between Putin and business representatives.

Before that meeting, non-governmental contributions stood at 15.6 billion rubles. Since then, the amounts have grown rapidly: reaching 159.7 billion rubles in April, followed by monthly increases of 45.5% in May, 27% in June, and approximately 30% through July and the first half of August.

Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, stated that the Russian business community is assisting the budget, noting that these contributions are voluntary and involve both corporate and family foundation funds. He emphasized the need for a balance to ensure these donations do not increase the overall fiscal burden on companies. These inflows come as Russia faces a record federal budget deficit, which reached 6.455 trillion rubles between January and July, a 1.4-fold increase compared to the same period last year.