The deputies evaluated the social in the package

This week, the State Duma will consider the draft federal budget for 2023 and for the planning period of 2024 and 2025. Almost all committees of the lower house (there are 32 in total) recommended that the document be adopted in the first reading. In their reviews, the deputies note the increase in social spending included in the project, but the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov, who also managed to give his assessment, believes that this growth is “episodic” and should be stable.

For three weeks now, the Duma committees have been considering the draft budget in turn: 31 committees have evaluated the main financial document, the responsible committee – on the budget – will approve its conclusion on October 24. And already on October 26, consideration of the document in the first reading is scheduled.

One of the last to consider the project was the Committee on Agrarian Issues, headed by communist Vladimir Kashin. In its conclusion, it is recognized that the parameters of the budget have been formed “taking into account the geopolitical and sanctions pressure exerted on the Russian economy, the forced rupture of a number of production processes and supply chains.” At the same time, the committee notes that, compared with the volumes approved by the passport of the state program for the development of agriculture and regulation of agricultural markets, the costs of its implementation were reduced in 2023 by 32.7 billion rubles. (in total, almost 345 billion rubles are provided). The deputies consider it necessary to clarify the parameters of the state program and pay special attention to ensuring the adequacy of its funding. Recall that the support of agriculture is usually one of the main topics of dispute between the Communists and United Russia when considering the budget.

The Committee on Labor and Social Policy, headed by Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR), states an increase in budget funds in 2023 for the implementation of the activities of the state programs “Social Support for Citizens” and “Accessible Environment”, which “ensures the fulfillment of obligations established by law in terms of social protection and social provision”.

The Health Protection Committee, led by United Russia (ER) deputy Dmitry Khubezov (since he volunteered for a special military operation, the review was signed by his first deputy, also United Russia Leonid Ogul), notes with satisfaction the increase in total spending on the development of the healthcare industry from 3805 billion rubles. in 2019 to 6793 billion in 2025. The deputies consider it “important” to increase the allocations for the set of measures “Improving the provision of emergency medical care and the activities of the All-Russian Disaster Medicine Service” in 2023-2025 by 556.6 million rubles. annually in order to provide medical care to citizens of Ukraine, as well as residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics who left these territories in an emergency mass order.

The Committee on Education (Olga Kazakova, United Russia) notes that the draft budget has been formed “while maintaining the funding of all key indicators that ensure the stable and progressive development of the education system.” Additional funds are provided for free hot meals for students in grades 1–4, the work of advisers to educational directors in general educational organizations and the creation of new places in general educational organizations (compared to 2022). The committee’s conclusion also reports an increase in spending on the “Development of the Youth Support System” project, in particular, on the creation of the Senezh educational youth center near Moscow in 2023 by more than 2.5 billion rubles, on state support for the Knowledge society in for the purpose of financial support for conducting educational events for state civil servants in 2023 – by almost 1.4 billion rubles.

The reduction in the cost of financing the industry “takes note” of the committee on transport (Evgeny Moskvichev, ER). Taking into account the general decrease in budget allocations for the subsection “Road facilities”, the committee considers it necessary to pay special attention to the repair and maintenance of existing roads. “Construction of new roads to the detriment of maintaining existing ones can lead to additional expenditures from the federal budget and regional budgets in the medium term,” he said in his conclusion.

The Energy Committee (Pavel Zavalny, United Russia) generally supports the forecast of macroeconomic indicators set during the formation of the budget, evaluating the government’s oil and natural gas production and export volumes as an optimistic scenario, and the hydrocarbon cost forecast as moderately pessimistic.

Against this generally positive background, the assessments of the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov sounded much more critical, who also published his opinion on the draft budget on the party website last week and traditionally remained dissatisfied with it. “Those who are responsible for the preparation of the main financial document of the country must understand: this should be a budget for the maximum mobilization of all available resources … And we strongly urged the government to proceed from this. But it didn’t seem to hear us. Unfortunately, this budget is also glued according to comprador patterns,” Mr. Zyuganov said.

In particular, commenting on social spending, he draws attention to the fact that the costs under the “Social Policy” section in 2023 increase by almost 14% compared to 2022, but in 2024-2025 the government is going to reduce them. “Given inflation, we can draw a disappointing conclusion that according to the results of the three-year period, we will get not growth, but a two percent reduction in social spending in real terms,” the communist leader points out. In addition, he believes that “the most negative and alarming feature of the new draft budget is the planned reduction in state investments in medicine: according to the results of the three-year period, we will get a cut in nominal spending on domestic medicine by 1.5% compared to 2022.”

Maria Makutina