Why Minsk for the fifth year already gives a quarter of his income to the regions and when will it end?

Yesterday, we wrote that Minsk did not have enough money to properly update land transport. And one of the reasons for the lack of funds is that the capital has already transferred about 25% of its revenues to the regions since the fifth year. Such a conclusion can be drawn from the publication of Finance, Accounting, Audit of the Ministry of Finance. Read why Minsk gives his money and what else to save.

Minsk's budget stands out in sharp contrast to other regions, as capital accounts for more than a third of the country's local budget revenues. In terms of income, it is more than twice that of the Minsk region, and the rest of the region is 3 to 4 times more advanced. Minsk is the only autonomous region that does not receive subsidies from the republic's budget. But if previously all revenues remained in the treasure of the capital, from 2014, the city will be forced to share a substantial part of the income with the center. Since 2018, Minsk is no longer involved in the distribution of VAT revenues, the most stable source of income. At the beginning of the year, it had been announced that the republic's budget for the development of the regions provided for the shipment of 1.33 billion rubles in 2018 (including 645 million VAT).

Head of the Chief Financial Department of the Executive Committee of Minsk City Alexey Afanasyev says that the main purpose of these exemptions is to bring together opportunities for the development of regions and the capital. In addition, this measure was intended to help the regions in the context of a deterioration of the economic situation.

"And although we understand their necessity, this approach, of course, we did not like," said the manager.

As a result, in the last five years, about a quarter of their own revenues have been withdrawn from the capital's budget for the benefit of Republicans (17% in 2014, 28.8% in 2016, 26% in 2018).

According to Afanasyev, the first years of work in the new conditions were the most difficult. Including from the point of view of the changes of consciousness among the financial agents and the authorities of the city.

– All this necessitated budget cuts in certain areas. First of all, it affected capital expenditures: construction of facilities under the investment program, renovation of the means of transport, repair of roads, landscaping, fixed badets of the facilities, etc. For a number of items, funding has decreased by about a third, explains the financier.

He expects that with the improvement of the economic situation in the regions, Minsk will nevertheless return to the previous distribution of funds.