Kazbek Tsarikaev, the head of the de-facto Ministry of Finance of the separatist South Ossetia/Tskhinvali Region, acknowledged the existence of a significant deficit for South Ossetia but argued that the deficit could be covered by other items.

"This year, the revenue side of the state budget is 8 billion 801 million 498.7 thousand rubles [EUR 86 million]. 80% of them are financial assistance from the Russian Federation. And 20% is the republic’s own income. The planned indicator of own income for 2023 is 1 billion 694 million 251 thousand rubles [EUR 16 million]. As of September 1, of this amount, the state budget received 1 billion 62 million 547 thousand rubles [EUR 10 million]. or 63%. The likelihood of the plan being implemented is obvious," the minister said.

"The volume of financial assistance to the Russian Federation for 2023 is 7 billion 107 million 247 thousand rubles [EUR 70 million]. Of these, 5 billion 942 million 247 thousand rubles [EUR 58 million] is directed to the socio-economic development of the Republic of South Ossetia. The rest is for the implementation of the Investment Program for the development of the Republic of South Ossetia," the official said.

The budget deficit is EUR 8 million. "In fact, part of this deficit in the amount of 488 million rubles [EUR 4.8 million] is provided by the opening balance - funds unused last year. The other part, in the amount of 284 million rubles [EUR 2.8 million], will be provided with financial assistance from the Russian Federation. Thus, the real budget deficit for the current year will be 45 million rubles [EUR 446 thousand] or 2.6% of the annual budget. This amount can be covered by receiving additional excess revenues, improving the quality of their administration, and introducing a reasonable regime for saving budget expenditures," Tsarikaev assured.