Putin is also increasing corporate income taxes in Russia by 25%.
It’s always bogus to relate some portion of government “as a % of GDP”.
GDP = C + G + I + (Exports - Imports)
It is traditionally popular to talk about how Consumption is a large part of GDP (at least in the US) but Soc Sec payout is called Consumption.
And more to the point, all gov’t spending, be it defense or their foreign ministry or any gov’t agency . . . that’s G. In other words GDP comes from gov’t spending. People want to think GDP is some sort of measure of goods and services, but govt spending is part of it By Definition.
So if you have a decade of QE with money created from nothingness, and that money is distributed to fund the huge govt deficits, well, that money from nothingness is being **spent** and it becomes GDP.
That’s right, GDP comes from nothingness via QE.
The Soviet Union’s central bank at that time was constrained in money creation to align with the Interior ministry’s 5 year plan. In other words, they made the mistake of thinking this substance from nothing had to be logical and make sense.
The current Russian central bank has no such restriction. Like the Fed, they can create money from nothing and do with it what they please — and if you haven’t gotten confused yet, you will reach the right conclusion — the created money, from nothing, gets called GDP.