Acting Chair of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Ms. Galina Izotova took part in the session “25 Years of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation: From Resource Allocation to Results Management” at the Moscow Financial Forum.

The Budget Code is one of the key documents regulating the budgeting processes. For 25 years, the Accounts Chamber has participated in its formation, and this work should continue, inter alia, in terms of improving inter-budgetary relations. First and foremost, I would like to congratulate everyone on this remarkable occasion – the 25th anniversary of the Budget Code and the 100th anniversary of the control and supervisory bodies,” Galina Izotova noted. “Together with the Ministry of Finance of Russia and the Federal Treasury, we are actively participating in the celebration, since the Budget Code is a key document for the Accounts Chamber that regulates budgeting processes. We have been involved in its formation and evolvement for 25 years.

Galina Izotova emphasized that over 200 amendments have been made to the Budget Code since its inception.

However, the document still needs further improvement:

There is a conclusion to be made: while the fiscal legislation is unstable, we need to continue the work by introducing specific amendments, using all regulations and procedures, while simultaneously working on a new Budget Code.

Galina Izotova paid special attention to the issue of inter-budgetary relations. She noted that over the past five years, the share of targeted inter-budget transfers in the total volume has increased by 25%, and the ‘single subsidy’ mechanism introduced into legislation has been implemented only within the framework of one state program.

We, the Accounts Chamber, believe that the regions need more independence,

Galina Izotova highlighted.

Despite the change in the quality of public debt for the better, some problems are still to be solved. In particular, the debt of constituent entities of the Russian Federation currently exceeds 3 trillion rubles and has grown by 300 billion since the beginning of the year.

One of the ways to address this problem is to consider the fiscal indicators of the regions when implementing fiscal policy. Meanwhile, as of today, the higher the budget capacity of the regions, the less support they receive; therefore, the constituent entities are not incentivized to expand their revenue base.

This has always been the topic of our discussion, and it would be a good thing to think about additional incentives,

Galina Izotova concluded.