"Gazprom" Again Refuses to Pay Dividends to the State: Siluanov

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated that the ministry's plans do not include any dividend payments from "Gazprom" for 2024.

"In the budget projections, we do not expect any dividend income from Gazprom," the head of the ministry said during a briefing in response to a related question.

Thus, the company will likely skip shareholder payments for the third consecutive year. The last time Gazprom shareholders received dividends was for the first half of 2022. The decision not to pay dividends for 2023 was made at the annual shareholders' meeting last summer.

Alongside Gazprom's refusal to pay dividends, there has been a decline in federal budget revenues from oil and gas sales, amounting to a significant 2.6 trillion rubles. Siluanov reported this. Although budget revenues from other sources unrelated to the oil and gas sector increased by 829 billion rubles, the overall budget deficit reached last year's levels.

"Oil and gas revenues decreased by 2.6 trillion rubles. Non-oil and gas revenues grew. Overall, the deficit has risen to last year's level," the Finance Minister noted.

Siluanov also emphasized that the increase in budget expenditures was strictly tied to the growth of revenues independent of oil and gas, in accordance with the current budget rule.