Russia prioritises military spending in 2025 budget boost
The British Ministry of Defence reported on Wednesday that Russia's draft budget for the upcoming year anticipates that military spending will increase to 32 percent, indicating that it still prioritises this over all other needs.
The latest intelligence update mentioned that on September 30th, the Russian government submitted the draft budget for 2025 to the State Duma. It predicts that expenditures will rise by 5 percent, excluding inflation, to 41.5 trillion roubles, equivalent to approximately £370 billion.
Increasing Russian defence spending
It was noted that the proposed budget anticipates approximately a 25 per cent increase in military spending in 2025 compared to 2024, and it will constitute 32 per cent of all budgetary expenditures, whilst before the war, in the budget of 2021, this percentage was 14.5 per cent. It was assessed that the new budget shows that Russia continues to prioritise war funding over all other national priorities; for example, it is assumed that spending on social goals will decrease by 16 per cent.
"Demand continues to outpace supply in the Russian economy and the expanding budget for 2025 is highly likely to worsen this. This will almost certainly add to inflationary pressure, which remains a key issue, due to the inflation rate being approximately 9% in August 2024," wrote the British Ministry of Defence.
A graph displaying the main items in the 2025 budget draft was also provided.
A billion dollars a month on missiles. Here's Russia's spending
According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia spends approximately £900 million on missiles and around £80 million on drones every month, Forbes magazine reported. The average production rate of missiles in Russia is between 132 and 171 per month.
Russia spends the most on Kh-101 cruise missiles, which allow targeting across Ukraine's entire territory. £470 million is allocated for this monthly, and an average of 45 rockets of this type are produced. Additionally, £183 million is spent on Kalibr missiles, with an average monthly production of 35.
