Russia will be able to achieve a balanced budget by 2015, President-elect Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
"We should provide a consistent course to ensure the budget balance in order to firmly reach a non-deficit budget by 2015," Putin said at a meeting in the country's Finance Ministry.
Russia's budget deficit amounted to 245.34 billion rubles ($8.313 billion) between January and February 2012, twice as high as the government forecast of about 124 billion rubles ($4.202 billion) or 1.5 percent of country's gross domestic product.
"Even a slight deficit is a risk for Russia ... taking into account our dependence on the market. We must minimize [the risk]," Putin added.
The Russian government forecasts the 2012 budget deficit will amount to 1.5 percent of GDP or about 900 billion rubles but Deputy Finance Minister Tatyana Nesterenko said in mid-March that higher oil prices could help Russia reduce the deficit, or even bring in a surplus, by the end of this year.
