Bloomberg News, 1/21/25

Russia’s budget revenue rose to a record high last month even after the US targeted the banking sector with a new round of sanctions aimed at disrupting foreign trade payments and curbing proceeds from exports.

Total revenue in December reached more than 4 trillion rubles ($40 billion), up by 28% compared with the same month of the previous year, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Finance Ministry data published late Monday. That’s the highest level recorded in ministry data that starts from January 2011.

The US and its allies have been seeking to stop the Kremlin’s war machine by limiting export revenues and imposed more sanctions on Russia’s energy industry and banks that service it late last year. That triggered a collapse in the ruble and depressed Russia’s foreign trade in December. Exports dropped by 19% last month compared to the previous year, and imports shrank by about 8%, according to central bank data published on Tuesday.

Still, oil and gas income spiked by a third in December from the previous year and increased by 26% for 2024, according to the Finance Ministry, while other sources of revenue posted a similar advance for the full year due to taxes and dividends amid robust economic growth.

“The volume of non-oil and gas revenues in 2024 significantly exceeded estimates in the 2025-2027 budget law, including from the largest tax sources,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement….

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