MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia plans to increase budget spending by 25.8% to 36.6 trillion roubles ($383 billion) in 2024, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Friday.
Moscow is spending heavily on its armed forces as it prosecutes what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, and social spending is also expected to increase as Russia holds a presidential election in March.
Next year's planned budget spending is equivalent to around 20.4% of gross domestic product (GDP).
The plans for next year envisage a small budget deficit, with revenues expected at 35 trillion roubles, Mishustin said in a televised government meeting.
The government was discussing budget plans for the next three years. Bloomberg News reported that Russia is also planning a huge hike in defence spending next year, swelling to 6% of GDP from 3.9% in 2023 and 2.7% in 2021.
Rising defence costs are supporting Russia's modest economic recovery this year with higher industrial production, but have already pushed budget finances to a deficit of around $24 billion - a figure compounded by falling export revenues.
Moscow doubled its target for defence spending in 2023 to more than $100 billion, Reuters reported exclusively in August, as the costs of the conflict in Ukraine spiral and place growing strain on government finances.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)