Breakdown of Новый бюджет превышает старый: он в сто раз больше.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
новый
new
старый
old
раз
time, occasion
Questions & Answers about Новый бюджет превышает старый: он в сто раз больше.
Why do we need the preposition в in в сто раз больше?
To express 'X times more' (or less) in Russian, you use в followed by the accusative case of the number, then раз (or раза), and finally the comparative word. Without в, сто раз would just mean 'a hundred times' as in frequency of an action, rather than a direct size comparison.
What case is the number сто in here?
It is in the accusative case, governed by the preposition в. For the number 100, the accusative form happens to be identical to the nominative (сто).
After сто we need the genitive plural, so why is the word раз used instead of a plural ending?
You are right that numbers 5 and above require the genitive plural. However, the noun раз is a special exception: its genitive plural form is exactly the same as its nominative singular form (раз).
What case is старый in the first part of the sentence?
It is in the accusative case. The verb превышать (to exceed) takes a direct object. Because it refers back to бюджет, which is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as the nominative.