Since the beginning of the year, the republic has lost more than seven billion rubles in income

Tatarstan is experiencing problems with filling its budget - the republic’s own revenues fell by almost a third compared to last year. In this regard, the Ministry of Finance intends to apply to the Russian government for budget loans. Deputies believe that in this way it will be possible to rectify the situation. Experts believe that the republic will be able to keep the deficit at 18-20%.

“The budget situation for 2009 in Tatarstan is very tense,” said the republic’s Minister of Finance Radik Gaizatullin yesterday at a joint meeting of the State Council Committees on Economy, Investment and Entrepreneurship and Budget, Taxes and Finance. According to him, in the first quarter of 2009, the consolidated budget of Tatarstan received less than 7.37 billion rubles. income, which is 6% of the annual budget. “The own revenues of the consolidated budget of Tatarstan in the first quarter amounted to 17.2 billion rubles, which is 30% lower than last year’s level,” said the minister. “The largest shortfall was in income tax: if last year, as of April 1, 9.32 were collected billion rubles, then this year only 4.034 billion rubles.” To fulfill “priority tasks and repay loans attracted last year,” Tatarstan had to borrow 4.15 billion rubles from the federal budget. loans, the minister said.

Last October, Tatarstan adopted a three-year deficit-free budget for the first time. According to it, revenues and expenses of the consolidated budget in 2009 are planned in the amount of 122.2 billion rubles. taking into account the Urals oil price of $95 per barrel and inflation of 6.8%.

According to the minister, expenses of the consolidated budget of Tatarstan for the first quarter of 2009 amounted to 21.71 billion rubles. Mr. Gaizatullin said that the government of the republic is preparing changes to the budget taking into account the “decrease in income.” It is expected that the sequestered version of the budget will reach the deputies in May.

Let us recall that in January the State Council already adopted an amendment to the budget law, which limited the expenditure of budget funds in the first quarter of 2009. According to it, the republic’s money was to be directed only to “primary” needs - payment of wages and accruals for them, social security of the population, drug provision, purchase of food, payment of utilities and servicing the public debt.

In addition, yesterday the minister expressed hope to receive federal funds in the form of budget loans in 2009 for a period of one to three years. He did not disclose the amounts and rates, but said that it would be difficult to attract them: “One of the conditions for receiving these funds is a serious reduction in the expenditure side of the budget - some items will have to be cut by 50%, some by 80%,” the minister explained. Moreover, the republic will also have to prove that our revenue situation is very tense.”

Yesterday, the chairman of the Tatarstan State Council Committee on Economics, Investment and Entrepreneurship, Marat Galeev, said that all investment projects involving the republic’s budget have been postponed to the third and fourth quarters of the year. He did not predict further budget losses. “All assumptions today are guesswork; none of the economists can predict what the situation will be by the end of the year,” emphasized Marat Galeev. “For now we can state that there is a drop in income, which was expected.” State Council Deputy and General Director of TAIF PSC Albert Shigabutdinov confirmed that the situation with filling the budget is difficult. “In any case, the income tax from industrialists this year will be half as much,” he said. At the same time, Mr. Shigabutdinov believes that by the middle of the year “the results will improve,” especially if the republic manages to obtain three-year budget loans.

According to the forecasts of Finam Investment Company analyst Vladimir Sergievsky, Tatarstan will be able to maintain the budget deficit level at 18-20%. “This will be facilitated by an improvement in the situation on the world oil markets, as well as an active government policy of macroeconomic stimulation of the real sector. The state provides about 555 billion rubles in the form of subordinated loans to banks, which will “revive” the real sector and, thus, increase the volume of tax profit of the Tatarstan budget,” the expert believes.

Yulia Garayeva, Irina Begimbetova

Kommersant (Kazan) No. 68 from 04/16/2009, p. 8

The crisis cut the budget of Tatarstan