Russian financial watchdog says regions lack funds to implement Putin’s orders

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(RIA Novosti -January 29, 2014) The Russian regions do not have sufficient funds to implement the May [2012] orders of Russian President [Vladimir Putin], the Audit Chamber has said.

The watchdog has come to this conclusion as a result of the monitoring of the regional situation. The most acute situation has emerged in connection with order No 600 about measures to provide Russian citizens with affordable housing and improve the quality of housing and communal services.

“The consolidated budgets of the constituent parts of the Russian Federation include just a bit more than a half (56.2 per cent) of funds needed to implement it [order No 600], which creates risks of failing to fulfil the task to provide citizens with affordable and comfortable housing,” the Audit Chamber said in a press release.

At the same time, according to the auditors, the Russian government has still failed to conduct a comprehensive assessment of budget costs, on all levels, of implemen! tation of the president’s orders. “The analysis of the information received from the Finance Ministry, sectoral federal ministries and regions about the financial support for the activities under the May orders has revealed inconsistency in the assessment of funds required to fulfil them or the lack of reliable information,” the Audit Chamber said.

The monitoring has also revealed that the regions are trying to find additional funds to implement the May orders. Optimization of institutions’ structure and number of staff, increase in effectiveness of the use of property, reduction of the managerial staff and borrowing are among the steps they take.

“However, the measures taken by the regions do not as yet have a significant impact to compensate for the income deficit of the consolidated budgets. The share of input from these measures is insignificant and, on average, amounts to 1.4 per cent of the income of their consolidated budgets,” the Audit Chamber said.

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