国际英语新闻:Russian gov't amends 2020-2022 budget to fund Putin's initiatives

MOSCOW, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The new Russian government approved Thursday amendments to the 2020-2022 federal budget aimed at funding measures outlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his address to the Federal Assembly last month.

The amendments provide for maintaining the budget surplus at 0.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at Thursday's government meeting, according to an official transcript.

He said budget revenues will rise by 214 billion rubles (around 3.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020, by 645 billion rubles in 2021 and by 755 billion rubles in 2022.

The revenue increase will be provided by the growth of the proceeds from sales other than oil and gas resources and the rise of tax and customs payments, as well as of dividends of enterprises with a state stake, Siluanov added.

Additional budget expenditures for measures outlined in Putin's address will exceed 2 trillion rubles in 2020-2022, he said.

The Russian government headed by Dmitry Medvedev resigned after Putin's address, and a new cabinet headed by former Federal Tax Service chief Mikhail Mishustin was formed.