Russia to borrow more for spiralling war costs

Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy, written by Alexander Kolyandr and Alexandra Prokopenko and brought to you by The Bell. This week we discuss how the government is getting ready for a massive borrowing binge to meet the rising costs of the invasion of Ukraine.

Government changes rules to enable borrowing hike

Russia’s authorities are preparing to aggressively ramp up the national debt to pay for the war on Ukraine in the face of a widening budget deficit. The State Duma, in just three days, rushed through a law to allow the finance ministry to increase budget spending and the debt ceiling without further parliamentary approval. The ministry requested the increase in borrowing limits soon after it emerged that military expenditure was going to be 2 trillion rubles ($28 billion) more than planned this year.