Budget-2024 opened the box office – Newspaper Kommersant No. 56 (7501) dated 04/03/2023

The White House approved the rules for lending to regions for advanced financing of construction projects – we are talking about the transfer of expenses from 2024 to 2023 to accelerate the commissioning of priority social and transport infrastructure facilities. The regions will be able to receive funds through interest-free treasury loans — the amount of early financing of state investments through this channel will be up to 180 billion rubles. The practice of flexible liquidity management in the context of a deficit budget makes it possible to accelerate the flow of funds into the economy and maintain the pace of implementation of national projects, although the financial authorities have already indicated that they are counting on the flow of investment activity to the private sector in the future.

The government has adjusted the rules for lending to regions for advanced financing of construction, reconstruction and overhaul of priority facilities, follows from Resolution No. 501 dated March 29, 2023. New budget loans will be extended to the construction of social and transport infrastructure facilities, as well as other facilities that improve the comfort of citizens. At the same time, it is important that such facilities can be built ahead of schedule before the end of the first quarter of 2024. The list of priority objects is determined by the government together with the regions.

For these purposes, the subjects of the Russian Federation will be able to receive budget loans at a rate of 0.1% for a period until the end of April 2024 – in total, up to 180 billion rubles fall under the transfer through this mechanism. budget funds in 2024. The limit of financial support in each case will be determined by the government commission for regional development. The document also contains a standard scheme for controlling the costs of credit funds: accounting for operations on them should be separate, and treasury support for government contracts, concession agreements and PPP agreements, as well as agreements on subsidies to legal entities will also be required.

The practice of redistributing funds between budget periods has been actively used by the authorities in recent years and makes it possible to accelerate the flow of funds into the economy. Thus, earlier the Ministry of Finance provided for the possibility of redistributing funds between the years of the budget three-year period and individual managers of budget funds in order to accelerate the construction of advanced capital construction facilities by delaying the deadlines. The very possibilities of dynamically redirecting budgetary flows without the risk of a cash gap were significantly expanded by the launch of the treasury payment system due to the Treasury’s control over a single pool of budgetary liquidity. “Thanks to the effective management of the Treasury’s balances on a single account, record levels were achieved in 2022 – the total amount of income amounted to more than 540 billion rubles,” said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov at a recent board of the department. In particular, these revenues allow the government to expand credit support measures for the regions: in 2023, local authorities can receive special treasury loans from temporarily free funds of the Treasury with a limit of 315 billion rubles.

In the context of a budget deficit and falling revenues, the measures will help maintain the pace of implementation of state programs and national projects, as well as partially increase the financial freedom of the regions. However, the accelerated state injections into the economy in 2022-2023 are designed to compensate for the pause in private capital investments amid high uncertainty caused by the military operation in Ukraine and its consequences, as well as the protracted adjustment of the investment environment, however, in the future, the White House still expects to rely on private investment ( see Kommersant of March 30), including by supporting regional investment projects (see Kommersant of March 1).

Diana Galieva