– Regional budget revenues amounted to 193.7 billion rubles, expenditures – 188.7 billion. Thus, the budget surplus amounted to almost 5 billion rubles. The expenditure part traditionally has a social focus: almost 62 percent of funds, i.e. more than 116 billion rubles, were allocated to social spheres, Netesov said.
The regional treasury’s own revenues in 2023 amounted to 149.8 billion, 16.7 percent more than the previous year. Personal income tax remained a stable source. Its amount amounted to 43.4 billion, an increase of almost six billion.
The implementation of national projects cost 28.5 billion rubles, all agreements concluded under them received 100% financing.
Salaries of public sector employees in 2023 increased by 15.5 percent compared to the level of 2022. Target indicators have been achieved for all specified categories. Last year, the region increased salaries three times above the recommended level. Not all regions of Russia had such an opportunity.
Healthcare costs, including federal budget funds, compulsory health insurance and services paid on comparable terms, amounted to 58.5 billion rubles, an increase of 3.7 billion compared to the level of 2022.
Spending on education amounted to 53.5 billion, of which 38.4 billion were regional competences. Compared to the previous year, spending increased by almost 20 percent. This made it possible to carry out all the programme activities, including the creation of the “Growth Point” educational centres, the “Quantorium” and “IT-cube” technological parks, the purchase of computers, the provision of hot meals to students in grades 1-4, major repairs and material and technical equipment of facilities.
Social policy spending in 2023 increased by more than 19 percent to EUR 27 billion. The significant growth is mainly due to co-financing of monthly benefits related to the birth and upbringing of a child, support for SVO participants and their families, as well as gasification and housing purchase benefits for orphans.
18.9 billion was allocated for social support of the population (year-on-year growth: 15 percent). Budget funds were used to provide 101 types of payments.
Spending in the cultural sector amounted to 2.9 billion euros, up by 23.7 percent compared to the 2022 level. 2.5 billion euros (+13.4 percent) were allocated for physical education and sports. Significant funds were spent on repairing existing facilities and creating new non-capital facilities, supporting mass and elite sports.
A targeted capital repair programme has been underway in the Voronezh region for five years. During this time, more than 13.5 billion euros of budget funds have been allocated within its framework. Almost 4.5 billion euros have been allocated in 2023 alone, which is a 30 percent increase compared to the level of 2022. This made it possible to repair 280 facilities in the areas of healthcare, education, culture, physical education and sports, social spheres, etc.
The “development budget” (spending on a specific investment program, road infrastructure, support for agriculture and industry) in 2023 amounted to 53.5 billion rubles.
“A significant increase in investment programme expenditures, which have almost tripled since 2021, allows the Voronezh region to implement large-scale capital-intensive projects and plan new major facilities,” the regional parliament stressed.
Last year, more than 21 billion euros of the budget were allocated for road construction, reconstruction and maintenance of the existing network. The volume of support for the agricultural and industrial sectors amounted to 8.7 billion euros. At the same time, the volume of regional funds allocated for this financing is constantly growing.
The Voronezh region is actively using new instruments of federal support: budget loans for infrastructure, special loans from the Treasury and loans for advance financing. Thus, in 2023, funds worth almost seven billion rubles were raised in the region, which were used for the construction of roads and housing and communal services, the development of a special economic zone and the purchase of buses to renew the fleet of transport enterprises.
Municipal support amounted to 68.9 billion rubles. That is, more than a third of all regional budget expenditures are interbudgetary transfers. The increase to the level of 2022 was 6.8 billion.
According to the results of an assessment conducted by the Russian Ministry of Finance, the Voronezh region is classified as a group of entities with a high level of debt sustainability.
– The region feels confident this year as well. Funding for all planned activities is provided in full rubles. Progressive socio-economic development continues, Vladimir Netesov concluded.
