Execution of the Federal Budget in Q1 2020

At the period-end of Q1 2020, the federal budget ran a slight surplus, however it was a temporary result because oil and gas revenues go into the budget in a timely manner and they record a downturn against Q1 2019. Non-oil and gas revenues although went up but that was due to the fact that they are received with a quarterly lag. On the whole, the situation with the pandemic spread sets a junction for the fiscal policy: to finance the shortfall of non-oil and gas revenues (potentially for regions' budgets coupled with extra-budgetary funds) primarily from borrowings (in accordance with the current fiscal rule) or by extensive use of the NWF funds (deviating from the fiscal rule)