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tax break by July 15.
Grants from the federal centre to the Russian regions in 2018 for the first time exceeded RUB1 trillion, RBC reported with reference to the data of the Ministry of Finance and the estimates of the agency Expert RA. In 2018, subsidies amounted to RUB1.035 trillion, in 2017 - RUB759bn, and a year earlier - RUB656bn. Last year all regions received grants, including the richest - Moscow and Tyumen Oblast. Moreover, the capital, which received RUB27.6bn, entered the top 7 regions in terms of the amount of subsidies received. About half of the growth of subsidies - RUB136bn from a total of 277bn - was necessary to ensure a balanced budget. At the end of 2018, in 70 regions consolidated budgets were executed with a surplus, and the aggregate surplus amounted to RUB510bn – a record in the last 15 years. A year earlier, there were 45 surplus regions in Russia.
Russia’s regional debt may grow 1.3-fold in the next three years due to rising social spending. By the beginning of 2022, state debts of regions and municipalities can grow 1.3-fold from the current RUB2.2 trillion ($33.2bn) to RUB2.9 trillion ($44bn), Interfax reported on February 18 with reference to the
63 RUSSIA Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com