MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th June, 2020) The financing of national projects in Russia in the next two years may be some 140 billion rubles ($2 billion) less than envisioned in the 2020-2022 budget, the Izvestia newspaper reported on Monday citing preliminary budget projects of the Russian Finance Ministry.
According to the national newspaper, the cuts may be caused by redistribution of resources in the coming years. The Demography national project will be the one most affected and will lose almost 150 billion rubles, more than 10 percent of the sum currently slated for the given period. Changes in the forecast number of applications for the maternity capital are reportedly behind the cuts for this project.
Changes to other national projects are reportedly smaller, and some of them will see their finding increased. In particular, it is planned to spend 13 billion rubles more than expected in the current budget for a comprehensive plan for modernizing and expanding the main transport infrastructure in Russia in 2021-2022.
The changes will also affect the national project on support for small businesses. Its financing can be reduced by almost 7 billion rubles due to the adjustment of plans for preferential lending to entrepreneurs, Izvestia reported. The Ministry of Economic Development said that the transfer of funds for the national project from 2021 to 2020 was due to the need to send money to the regions to support entrepreneurs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, the press service of the Finance Ministry said that these adjustments were not final � expenses can be further revised when the macro-indicators of social and economic development of Russia change. First of all, this concerns expenses in foreign Currency or subject to indexation, the ministry added.
