The splendor and poverty of the regions

According to the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes, 67 Russian regions are currently subsidized. Moreover, according to the law “On the Federal Budget for 2005,” 27 federal subjects are highly subsidized regions, and therefore the main hypothetical candidates for introducing presidential rule. Among the unsuccessful regions are the Republic of Altai, Buryatia, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Mari El, North Ossetia, Tuva, Kalmykia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Chechnya, Altai Territory, Amur, Bryansk, Ivanovo, Kamchatka, Kurgan, Magadan, Penza, Pskov and Chita regions, Jewish Autonomous Region, Aginsky Buryat, Ust-Ordynsky Buryat and Evenki Autonomous Okrugs.

In accordance with the forecast of socio-economic development of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation for 2005 and for the period up to 2007, published by the Ministry of Economic Development on August 17 last year, out of 89 Russian regions, 16 are donors. This group includes the main financial and economic centers of the country - Moscow and St. -Petersburg, as well as the industrially developed Samara and Lipetsk regions, the Republic of Tatarstan. According to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the group of donor regions also includes the Moscow, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm and Sverdlovsk regions, the Komi Republic, Bashkortostan and Yakutia, the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs.

According to the forecasts of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Belgorod, Ryazan, Smolensk, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Orenburg, Tomsk, Tyumen and Leningrad regions, as well as the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, have a good chance of becoming donors in the foreseeable future.

However, it is possible that this year the number of donor regions will decrease. All donor regions lost revenues of 1.5% of the 24% income tax, as well as revenues from the water tax. This year, the budget of oil and gas regions will receive only 5% of oil revenues instead of 14.4% last year. The total losses of donor regions, according to the Ministry of Finance, will amount to 102 billion rubles, and expenses, on the contrary, will increase. The regions will have to fully finance secondary vocational education and pay monetary compensation to beneficiaries.

Ekaterina GORDEEVA