Russia slashed its budget deficit in the period January to September by over 16 percent compared to the same period last year, the Russian Federal Treasury said on Monday.

The budget revenue as of Oct. 1 totaled 10.97 trillion rubles (187.86 billion U.S. dollars) and budget expenditure was 11.238 trillion rubles (192.45 billion dollars).

The largest expenditure was made in the areas of social policy, national defense and the economy.

The budget deficit -- 268.13 billion rubles (4.59 billion dollars) -- was nearly one sixth of that in the same period last year.

The deficit in the same period last year was 1.58 trillion rubles (27.07 billion dollars).

Last month, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the budget deficit in the first half of 2017 was reduced to 1 percent of Russia's gross domestic product. It amounted to 400 billion rubles (6.94 billion dollars).